Rains punish Santa Catarina

The good news is that the rain will be less this week and river levels began to drop over the weekend. The bad news is that four days of almost nonstop rain last week caused deaths and significant damage in the state of Santa Catarina.

For example, the Itajaí-Açu River basin peaked Saturday morning at over 12 meters (8 meters is normal, after which flooding takes place) and was expected to slowly drop to 10 meters by Saturday evening. Rebuilding in the area after the flooding and landslides cannot even begin until the river returns to normal and then it will also be slow.

It is estimated that over 800,000 people were affected by the rains in the state, with 57,000 dislocated and another 8,000 made homeless. Over one hundred municipalities have reported damage, with 34 of them considered disaster areas.