From heat domes to storms, a family from Brest in the “hell” of Brazilian weather
Brazil’s south-east has been battling bad weather since Friday night into Saturday that has killed at least 23 people – eight in Rio de Janeiro state and 15 in Espirito Santo state – and left several thousand people without shelter. People, according to a recent report established this Sunday. Officials spoke of a “chaotic situation” in the town of Mimosa do Sul, north of Rio, where more victims are expected to be discovered.
“Hot as Hell”
The storm and its heavy rains are due to the arrival of a cold front, which contrasts with the extreme heat wave that has suffocated the region for the past week. On Sunday 17 March, the temperature in Rio reached 62.3 degrees Celsius. Marie and Christophe Saliu describe, “The record on paper but the difference with the previous day or 59 degrees Celsius was imperceptible.”
The couple from Brest recently settled with their three children, aged 19, 13 and 7, in a district in the south of the city, famous for its carnival, its beaches and its statue of Christ the Redeemer. And since his arrival on Brazilian soil on January 5, he has rarely had the chance to wear woolens. “For three months, in Rio, it was hot as hell,” Mary says. Even when the thermometer indicates 34°C, buildings, car traffic, lack of air…means the temperature experienced in the city can easily be 20 degrees higher. »
The family, who live in a small apartment, only turn on the air conditioning because electricity is expensive – their monthly bill came to 200 euros. A luxury that the residents of the favelas apparently do not have, these tin-roofed shanty towns that crammed 40% of the population. “Brazilians are worried about long summers and heat waves that get a little stronger and longer with each episode,” she attests.
Recurring natural disasters
Rain in Rio on Sunday saw the temperature plummet to 24 degrees Celsius. “We live again! “, whispers a tourist from Breton, not unhappy with the taste of “a typical Brest drizzle” – nothing to do with the rivers of water and mud flowing through the streets of Petropolis, 70 km further to the north.
The state of Rio did not downplay the weather warning: “There was no school for children on Friday, employees left work early and the festival was cancelled. Many of the precautions surprised us a little. In the breast, life stops when it is 40 degrees Celsius. Here, we fear short rains more than tropical rains that don’t last long,” remarked Mary, who, after three hours of downpour, saw part of the green wall in front of her residence collapse and manholes spew out in a megalopolis riddled with drain-strewn streets. .
The steep terrain in and around Rio encourages runoff and overflow as it rains. (Photo of the Saliu family)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was struck by the tragedies that are “intensifying with climate change”. Brazil, a vast country of 215 million inhabitants, is facing a succession of natural disasters. 241 people died due to heavy rains in Petropolis in 2022. The tourist town received another 300 mm of rain in 24 hours. Heavy rain was also forecast for the mountains and north of Rio this Sunday.