According to data from the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts for Natural Disasters (Cemaden), linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the geological risk in the Southeast region went from “very high” to “moderate” this Wednesday (6th). ).
According to the agency, there is a possibility of landslides on the South Coast of Fluminense and on the North Coast of São Paulo, especially in the municipalities of Angra dos Reis, Paraty and Ubatuba, due to the high levels accumulated in recent days.
Cemaden says that the rains were over 800 millimeters in Angra dos Reis for five days and over 600 millimeters in Paraty.
The rains recorded since last Thursday (31) already add up to more than 19 deaths across the state of Rio de Janeiro. Of these, 17 are in the municipalities of Costa Verde, Angra dos Reis, with ten victims, and Paraty with six deaths. The cities of Mesquita, in Baixada Fluminense, and Cachoeira de Macacu, in the Metropolitan Region, registered one death each.
Four people are still missing, also in Costa Verde. There are three in the Ilha Grande region, in Angra, and one in Paraty.
The Cemaden note explains that there is a possibility of light rain throughout the day. The agency warns that, even with the change in the status of the risk area, this situation can still favor the occurrence of occasional landslides, even in the absence of rain.
For the engineer specialist in safety risks Gerardo Portela, there are several factors that can cause accidents in risky places. According to him, the soil, affected by the amount of water absorbed, is an element that can worry residents of the affected regions.
“It is possible that there will be more landslides. When there is a moderate risk, you can live with that risk, but in a combination of actions and resources. In addition, the rains generate a saturation in the terrain. This means that there is a limit to how much land can hold this water. When this limit is exceeded, it cannot remain solid, and transitions to pasty. These are the scenarios we have. The chance of the land becoming saturated is great, since it was destroyed by erosion”, warns the engineer.
A projection made by Cemaden indicates that about 925 thousand people live in areas at risk of landslides, in the 15 municipalities of Rio de Janeiro analyzed. Of this total, about 796 thousand are in eight municipalities in the Metropolitan Region and, in the state capital, this number reaches more than 475 thousand.
The survey was carried out based on the last census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), carried out in 2010. The researchers used the estimate of expected population growth as a basis.
The substitute director of Cemaden, Regina Alvalá, recalls that the world is affected by climate change and the country is suffering the consequences of this phenomenon. She reports that, since the end of last year, Brazil has had very high rainfall accumulations, which harm the population.
“The rains that occurred in this period were abnormal. It rained three times more than the average expected for the month. What we point out is that these rains have been present in Brazil practically since November and we have seen that they are very high rainfall accumulations, higher than what we call the climatological average accumulated. This is a sign that the planet is warmer and culminates in more intense and more frequent rainfall extremes. It is evidence of climate change”, he warns.
Source: CNN Brasil
