A Dam Against the Flood? One Year Later, Porto Alegre Fears New Floods

Heavy rains that hit southern Brazil between late April and early May 2024 left nearly 200 dead, half a million displaced, and caused unprecedented destruction.

In ten days, the equivalent of three months of rain fell in the wealthy state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Global warming, caused largely by the burning of oil, coal and gas, is making extreme rainfall more frequent.

Vulnerable cities like Porto Alegre are only just beginning to transform to cope.

Fragility

The modern regional capital, with its 1,3 million inhabitants, is located on the shores of Lake Guaiba, into which four rivers from the mountains of the Taquari Valley flow.

A year ago, the flooded streets of the city center had turned into canals where rescue boats circulated.

The neighborhood has returned to its usual bustle. But everything seems to be hanging by a thread.

At the end of March, the city suffered another storm. It was much less severe than the previous one, but it left its mark on flooded avenues, fallen trees, and power outages.

"Now the rain is scary," Jotape Pax, an urban artist who founded the volunteer brigades that have already repainted 250 houses, out of a target of 2.000, told AFP.

For the 41-year-old activist, these mobilizations to improve the appearance of affected neighborhoods produce "a sense of community and resilience."

"Gap"

The city has had a flood protection barrier with walls and dikes since the 1960s.

But when the flood arrived in 2024, the walls had cracks and sandbags had been piled up to prevent seepage, says Mima Feltrin, a flood expert at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Of the 23 water drainage pumps, 19 failed. A year later, only two had been renovated, the urban planner points out.

"It's very worrying because, so far, what we've seen are mostly emergency measures." She said there is a "big gap" in planning and infrastructure.

Complaint

A study by the Hydraulic Research Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul concluded in December that many deaths could have been avoided with an effective warning system and early evacuation of high-risk areas.

Porto Alegre City Hall is the subject of a class-action lawsuit seeking compensation estimated at millions of euros, accusing it of "omissions" that allegedly led to failures in the protection system.

But Mayor Sebastiao Melo assures that progress has been made in developing a climate action plan, which he will present "this year" to the local assembly.

The project involves the creation of infrastructure to improve early warning capabilities. It also includes the strengthening of existing dikes and the construction of new barriers.

Some measures are already being implemented, such as improving urban drainage, adds the mayor, re-elected a few months after the disaster.

"In the same boat"

Neighbors and associations did not wait for the authorities to mobilize.

"Here, we're all in the same boat and we help each other," explains Nadja Melo, owner of Gambrinus. At the entrance to this restaurant, the oldest in the Public Market, a plaque commemorates the height reached by the waters during the 2024 floods.

Today, Porto Alegre's iconic market is bustling again.

Some changes, such as stainless steel structures and furniture (instead of the highly perishable wood), show that lessons have been learned.

"With climate change, this is going to happen more and more often. It scares us a lot, but we're working to be better prepared," says Nadja Melo, 45.

Restart

Adapting, however, remains a considerable challenge.

In the Sarandi neighborhood, one of the worst hit, dozens of families have been ordered to leave. Their homes are in a high-risk area and are hampering work to reinforce the dikes.

This is the case of Claudir Poli, a 42-year-old former worker with prosthetic legs who uses crutches.

He needs to leave his precarious home, where he lives with his wife and three young children. But the aid funds are insufficient for him, and the process of buying a new home is arduous.

"It's very difficult to start again," he says, looking at the mountains of rubble from the houses already demolished.

"Sponge Cities"

Expert Mimi Feltrin proposes reforming the water retention system, drawing inspiration from solutions successfully implemented in New York and the Netherlands.

"It's important to have floodgates, but also green spaces designed to absorb water," explains the researcher, evoking the idea of ​​"sponge cities."

And above all, in his eyes, it is urgent to have a climate emergency plan for Rio Grande do Sul that involves all levels of government—city, state, and federal—to avoid another tragedy.

The publication of this report coincides with the Covering Climate Now initiative's "89 Percent Project," which aims to highlight that a large majority of people around the world want more climate action.