The latest Civil Protection bulletin reports 90 dead, 132 missing and 361 injured. Over 200,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, of whom 48,147 are already housed in emergency facilities. Over 1.3 million of the total 11.4 million inhabitants suffered damage due to the bad weather wave that affected - with different intensity - 388 of the 497 municipalities.
In Porto Alegre, the state capital, on 5 May, the level of the Guaíba River reached 5.30 metres, well above the record of 4.76 meters set during the 1941 flood. Many houses are submerged to the roof. Several locations have been isolated due to landslides and the collapse of bridges, complicating the work of rescuers. The federal government said it had sent nearly 14,000 troops to the state.
On 6 May it stopped raining, but many areas are still flooded and the delivery of basic necessities to the population encounters many obstacles. And new rainfall is also expected from 8 May.
Among the victims of the flood were several collaborators from three Salesian centres in Porto Alegre. According to the Superior of the Salesians of the St Pius X Province of Porto Alegre Brazil (BPA), Fr Ademir Ricardo Cwendrych, about 17 families of teachers and other employees at the Provincial House, the Don Bosco school and the Social Work in Viamão suffered total or partial losses. "We are putting our facilities and conditions in place to assist those who are going through these difficulties" he said.
For this reason, the BPA Province has launched a request for help to the Salesian Family throughout Brazil. "Please spread this news to the Salesians and friends of Don Bosco in Brazil, so that we can do good as soon as conditions permit!", was Fr Cwendrych's request.
According to the official communications of the Province, the BPA Salesians are safe and well. The concern now is for the collaborators, students and other beneficiaries of Salesian works who are suffering from this natural disaster. “The situation is getting worse by the day. Although today (5 May) the sun shone a little here in Rio Grande do Sul, the feeling and the climate are heavy and worrying" he said.
Meanwhile, there is a race against time as rescuers continue to save the thousands of people still isolated. In all, the armed forces, civil protection and numerous volunteers have already rescued more than 50,000 people stranded in their homes, on the roofs of buildings or in makeshift shelters.
And throughout the country and even beyond Brazil, the solidarity race has started: the Salesians in several Provinces have published their appeals to collect donations, food, clothes and basic necessities to help those displaced by the floods, while those in the territory devastated by the waters are already acting in person.
The "Padre Pedro Leonardi" social centre, located in the Restinga district of Porto Alegre, is collecting donations of towels, hygiene and cleaning materials to better assist displaced families in the region, and indigenous families have already been welcomed in the parish hall of Mary Help of Christians parish in Restinga.
And the Our Lady of Graces parish in Canoas is also collecting non-perishable food, snacks, milk, drinking water, personal hygiene and cleaning products and bedding, to be destined for those who, at this time, have lost practically all their belongings.
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