Floor by floor, searching for flood victims in Porto Alegre, Brazil May 6, 2024

The search and rescue task is complex in the state capital, Porto Alegre - a city with many tall buildings, wide avenues, and around 1.4 million inhabitants (Florian PLAUCHEUR)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Floor by floor, searching for flood victims in Porto Alegre, Brazil

From top to bottom, rescuers scour the buildings of Porto Alegre in search of inhabitants trapped in apartments or on rooftops, as an unprecedented flood turns the streets of the Brazilian metropolis into rivers.

In the Sarandi neighborhood, in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, firefighters began by evacuating people who had found refuge on the roofs of apartment buildings and then went to find those on the higher floors.

“Now we're evacuating those on the second and third floors,” Daniel Batista da Rocha, a firefighter from the flood-hit state of Rio Grande do Sul, told AFP in the middle of the search on Sunday.

But the task is complex in a city with many tall buildings, wide avenues, and around 1.4 million inhabitants.

“There's a lot of water... It's deep. The (rescue) boats are traveling at the same height as the power lines.

So to navigate, we have to cut the cables,” said Rocha, dressed in a wetsuit, life jacket, and yellow helmet.

The floods had killed at least 78 people in the state by Sunday, with dozens missing and around 115,000 forced to leave their homes.

In addition to Porto Alegre, hundreds of towns and villages have been hit, leaving thousands of people without access to drinking water, electricity, telephone, or internet.

- Everyone helps

The clock is ticking for rescue teams to reach the people who have yet to be found in the worst weather disaster ever to hit this rich region of southern Brazil.

According to the city government, the level of the Guaiba River, which passes through Porto Alegre, reached 5.3 meters on Sunday, surpassing the previous record of 4.76 meters, recorded in the historic flood of 1941.

It's not just the professionals who are involved in the search and rescue operation.

“We're doing our best to help. Everyone helps in their way,” said volunteer Luis Eduardo da Silva, 32, from Porto Alegre.

His mission was to collect essential supplies such as life jackets, water, and fuel to take to those in need.

The deliveries, he told AFP, are “made during the day”, when it is “easier to locate” people amid the devastation.

“At night it gets complicated,” said Silva.

People are also delivering bottled water and food to makeshift distribution points around the city, including gas stations.

The state government has appealed for donations of mattresses, sheets, and toiletries.

Many neighbors are lending their boats, and even jet skis, to help in the rescue efforts.

By Florian PLAUCHEUR

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