Throughout the municipality of Petrópolis, in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, heavy rains left marks of destruction and more than 120 dead. On Rua 16 de Março, downtown, an image caught the eye: a mountain of discarded books due to the damage caused by the waters that invaded one of the main bookstores in the city. The damage of hundreds of wet books has not yet been calculated.
One of the store’s owners, Sandra Madeira, said she found out what had happened in the store the next day. The water flooded the basement of the store, where the products were in stock.
“I was stuck in a clinic, I was holding my car by the waist, not knowing what was happening here in the bookstore. The water came from the river, which is down there, and never reaches up here. The most that goes is to the first store here on the street. But this year, the rain was very heavy. And she didn’t come within a foot of my door, but we have a basement. Then she went down like a waterfall. It flooded the three-meter basement which, in addition to the office, has the equipment, return and entry books”, explained the trader.
The store had 13 employees and some have already left the establishment with water up to their waists. “I didn’t have time to take it off. My children and the employees who were here have already left with water up to their waists, and afraid to see that amount of water coming down. It was very sad”, said Sandra.
According to the manager of the place, Andrea Gonçalves, the store was only reopened two days after the tragedy because of the flooding of the basement. “Yesterday we managed to get all the water out. Now we are taking out the things that were underneath, furniture, books, part of the stock, documentation. A lot has been lost,” said the manager.
Amauri Madeira, another owner of the bookstore, estimates that he lost 50% of the store’s collection and stock – the water reached the basement ceiling. The establishment was working on excess returns and unsold books over Christmas. He still calculates the value of the damage, but he was moved by the incalculable value of the loss of the content of the publications.
“The books were lost in the water, mud, sewage. Unfortunately they will not be usable. Nobody likes a book more than a bookseller. We cannot donate. The important thing is lives, having the community, our family and employees all well. We’ll see things later. Now we have to take care of the lives, the deceased, those who have lost family members, the house. These are the ones that deserve our attention at this moment”, said the bookseller with emotion.
The mountain of books that was formed in front of the store, on the sidewalk, caught the attention of residents.
“How sad! Many children stopped having a book like this for lack of money. Today they are there. I’m so sorry, I’m speechless. This has also happened in other places”, lamented the seamstress Cecília Peixoto.
Source: CNN Brasil
