Floodwaters are still receding in the southern states of Brazil, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and the hard-hit Rio Grande do Sul. Still, evidence of mounting misery for Brasileros is nowhere near settled for climate flood victims.
Instead, the Brazilian Health Ministry has warned that a surge in waterborne disease is coming. Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread in this case by rats, has killed four people over the past few days.
The record flooding took place over two and a half weeks and killed at least 161 people, with many missing; officials warned at the time that leptospirosis and hepatitis B would emerge within two weeks as sewage combined with carcass fluids mixed with the floodwaters.
Flooding disabled land and air transportation, left most of Rio Grande do Sul to fend for themselves, rescue, and care for each other until help could arrive in greater numbers. However, the government and the impacted populace were caught off guard, and they had no plan to deal with a crisis of this enormous magnitude, so official efforts fell way short.
Since the flooding occurred during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's watch, he is absorbing the blame and hostility much as George W Bush did during the Katrina crisis on the Gulf Coast. Lula allocated ten billion dollars, but that will take time to filter down to the victims of this climate-fueled disaster.
Like Bush, Lula is catching the heat over aging infrastructure, which contributed to the disaster, such as the failed dikes built decades ago to keep the water out. These barriers have instead been instrumental in keeping the water trapped in the cities and rural areas. "Pedro Cortês, an Environmental Science professor at the University of São Paulo, told CNN. "They may not have thought about a drainage system if the barriers were not enough," said Cortês" a climate analyst for CNN Brasil.
Brazil may get a bad rap, and deservedly so, but most countries, including the United States, are as unprepared for the climate emergency as they are. The fact is that climate rainfall disruption results from hotter temperatures, primarily from the added evaporation of the ocean, which saturates the atmosphere with additional moisture capable of increasing heavy and unprecedented rainfall.
All the red lights were and are blinking fast in Brazil, and a crisis of this scale was only a matter of time, as all areas affected have had significant flooding over the past decade. The lesson from southern Brazil is to expect the unexpected.
The climate we knew no longer exists. Trump did Puerto Rico, ravaged by Hurricane Maria, wrong by rebuilding the grid and other infrastructure as it was before the storm; the island is destined for catastrophe once again.
Looting and crime are rampant in the flood area, along with shelters housing the homeless. In dystopian films, survivors arm themselves with shovels or a sawed-off lawn mower blade to fight ghouls such as the rapists and other violent criminals plaguing the city’s relief centers. The reality is that most people will die from episodes of extreme diarrhea.
“There are those who die during the flood and there is the aftermath of the flood,” said Paulo Saldiva, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo medical school who researches the impacts of climate change in health. “The lack of potable water itself will mean that people will start using water from reservoirs that is not of good quality.”
The unprecedented disaster struck more than 80% of the state’s municipalities and damaged critical infrastructure. Over 3,000 health establishments — hospitals, pharmacies, health centers, and private clinics — were affected, according to a report from the federal government’s health research institute Fiocruz released Tuesday.
“The outbreak of leptospirosis cases was somewhat expected due to the number of people exposed to the water, as well as other diseases,” said Carlos Machado, a public health and environmental expert who Fiocruz appointed to track the flood’s impact. “We have never seen in Brazil a disaster of this size and with such a large exposed population.”
Machado said that even though infrastructure, basic control services and health services have been disrupted, the local health department is working to offer prophylaxis to infectious diseases and guidance to people returning home on how to reduce the exposure risks.
Interruption of health services can also have a lasting impact on patients treating chronic diseases, as treatment and care for chronic patients are discontinued, Machado said. People also often leave home during climate disasters without their prescriptions or identification.
Leptospirosis is an illness caused by an infection with the bacteria Leptospira. You can get infected with Leptospira through abrasions or cuts in your skin, or through your eyes, nose or mouth.
Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease, which means it’s transmitted between animals and humans. You can get infected through:
- Direct contact with pee (urine) or reproductive fluids from infected animals.
- Contact with contaminated water or soil.
- Eating or drinking contaminated food or water.
I have been attempting to determine how much migration has occurred in the region. There isn't much information available on those statistics yet. People are still in survival mode, and water inundation is still an obstacle for everyone but the wealthy.