Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil - May 9, 2024

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The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, was warned on more than one occasion about the possibility of an unprecedented environmental disaster in that region of southern Brazil, but failed to take action.

This is what the local deputy Adao Pretto Filho, of the Workers' Party (PT), has denounced. In his opinion, the severe flooding affecting Rio Grande do Sul could have been avoided or had a lesser impact if the local government had not ignored a report prepared by the External Representation Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul.

Finalised in August 2023, this document presented various proposals to combat the effects of climate change in several municipalities in the state.

"In this report we indicated several initiatives that should be taken by the state government. One of them was to increase investment in the area of prevention and civil protection. We also called for stricter legislation on environmental preservation," says Pretto Filho, coordinator of the study.

To date, at least 100 people have died in the worst floods in the region's history and 128 are still missing. In addition, some 370 people have been injured and 1.5 million have been affected.

The unprecedented flooding is the result of last week's heavy and concentrated rainfall, which in just four days fell the amount expected for the entire season.

It is worth noting that in less than a year, this southern Brazilian state has already suffered four weather disasters. In 2023 alone, storms in June, September and November left 80 dead.

This footage illustrates flooded Porto Alegre from the air.