{"id":42718,"date":"2018-04-16T13:23:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T16:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=42718"},"modified":"2018-04-17T13:28:39","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T16:28:39","slug":"rains-in-rio-the-story-that-got-lost-between-carnival-and-the-military-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=42718","title":{"rendered":"Rains in Rio: The Story That Got Lost Between Carnival and the Military Intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Por<\/strong>tugu\u00eas<\/strong><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Monday, February 5<\/h3>\n

The end-of-summer rains began in Rio, without major structural impacts. Remaining fairly light, they were a cause for celebration as they led to cooler temperatures. Cec\u00edlia Oliveira, a journalist and one of the coordinators of Fogo Cruzado<\/a> (Crossfire), an app that monitors gun shots in Rio de Janeiro, had another reason<\/a> for celebrating the rain:<\/p>\n

January was TERRIBLE. Last week only Jesus could have helped us. Many, many shootings. So many hours of shooting. Shooting that began before 6am and lasted until nightfall. Many stray bullets. Many residents in a state of panic. February began at the same pace. Insane. This weekend people died all over the place. Also in Carnival street blocos… Work on the Fogo Cruzado App<\/a> was tense.<\/p>\n

But it is raining today. Hallelujah! It’s amazing how the bullets calm down. It\u2019s crazy. Rain is Rio\u2019s best security policy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wednesday, February 14<\/h3>\n

Beginning on the evening of\u00a0Ash Wednesday and continuing through the early hours of Thursday morning, heavy precipitation and strong winds left the city in a state of crisis<\/a>. It was one of the most severe rain storms ever recorded by Rio\u2019s Center of Operations.<\/p>\n

Noemy Farneze, resident of City of God<\/a> and editor-in-chief of the online portal CDD na Web<\/a>, says messages about the storm began circulating on Facebook, WhatsApp, and by telephone as soon as the rain began. \u201cThis is a community of more than 60,000 with areas of extreme poverty, which turned out to be the areas most affected. Many people lost everything: furniture, clothing, and food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nathan Borges, born and raised in the community, shares his recollections of the storm: “My mother and I were watching the announcement of Carnival results, after [soccer team] Vasco’s game. Everything was normal. Then it started to rain. I think it was seven o’clock. A strong summer rain, but normal. The river was full, but it hadn\u2019t overflowed yet. But the favela was full of garbage. The trash collectors hadn\u2019t been working, due to Carnaval or something. And then, of course, it flooded. It was very fast. Very, very fast. My mother had already gone through the flood of \u201996 and was afraid\u2014’It’ll flood, it’ll flood, it’s going up.’ When the water began to enter, she collapsed. She began to cry.”<\/p>\n

Borges continues: “My grandmother can’t walk. We climbed the stairs with her, rushing for the second floor, and the water was already reaching the second floor. When I went back downstairs to find my IDs, the water already reached my knees. Only a minute and a half had passed. When I returned to turn off the circuit breaker, so no one would be electrocuted [if the electricity turned back on], it was at waist level. Inside the house! On the street, the water came up to the middle of my stomach, and I’m 5\u20197! There was a lot of trash. Rats, cockroaches. It was very tense.”<\/p>\n

The thought to turn off the circuit breaker may not have crossed everyone’s mind and is indicative of yet one more dimension of inequality affecting the city\u2014in other parts of the city residents wouldn’t have to think of it. “It’s ‘lucky’ the electricity went out before the flood and we avoided the combination of electricity and water,” reflects Farneze.<\/p>\n

At 3am electricity returned to most homes, but in some places where trees fell on wires residents remained without power for over 24 hours. The power outage wasn’t the only harmful consequence of the flood: “The next day we went downstairs to see. My house is one step below street level, so we had to get the water out. I already had tried to drain it into the street, but we had to open the door and draw it out of the house [because it didn’t drain]. There was a lot of trash. The refrigerator was turned over. My bed, which is a trundle bed, I lost. My wardrobe was split in half,” recounts Borges, who shows incredible resilience, not seeming to have let it all get him down.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, he demonstrates an exceptional degree of determination for a 17-year-old: \u201cIt\u2019s more relaxed now. People helped us: our family and friends. We only managed to clean it all up after three days. We were able to mobilize five people to help.\u201d On top of helping his family and studying, Borges is a theater teacher at the Associa\u00e7\u00e3o Semente da Vida<\/a> (ASVI\u2014Seed of Life Association) and works as a producer and DJ in City of God.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For those who are not fortunate enough to have the help of family and friends, members of CDD na Web and other residents organize to collect donations. \u201cWe have intensified our efforts to assist in the Brejo area, beyond Carat\u00ea, which is the most precarious area in the community, and there people can donate not only food, clothes, and water, but also diapers and milk.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not only in City of God that the rain had dramatic consequences. Four people died<\/a> and an estimated 2,000 are homeless throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro. Most of the displaced are from Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>. In the Parque Everest community alone, 250 families are being aided by the Social Work and Human Rights Secretariat, entry is now forbidden to 41 houses, and one teen was killed in a collapse. In the lower part of the community, mud overflowed from the Faria Timb\u00f3 river<\/a>, not for the first time.<\/p>\n