The city of Porto Alegre, the capital of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, hit by the worst floods in its history since late April, leaving at least 172 people dead, 44 missing and more than 650,000 homeless, has begun to recover . its public transport service, trying to help resume life for nearly one and a half million residents. The service is still partial, but it has already brought relief to users after 85% of the city has been under water since May 3, five days after a severe storm began in the central state on April 29.
This Wednesday, June 5, the two largest public transport terminals in the historical center of Porto Alegre were reopened and returned to serving residents, even if only partially. Of the more than 5,500 trips that were made each day before the giant floods, about 3,500 are now being made as the city still has flooded areas such as the Sarandi area in the north.
Next Friday, June 7, another big step will be taken in the attempt to revive life in the once elegant capital of Rio Grande do Sul, now full of destruction and mountains of rubbish and rubble, with the opening of the Central Bus Station. , also in the city center. The bus station, completely engulfed by the waters of the Guaiba River, which cuts through Porto Alegre, where it essentially forms a large lake, is still undergoing cleaning and repairs, but on Friday it will return to service 52 lines between Porto Alegre and dozens of other cities in the Rio Grande. do Sul, which was also disrupted due to both damage to the station and blockages caused by flooding on several roads.
This Wednesday also saw the start of demolition of the first of three emergency corridors built by the Porto Alegre City Council. These are roads made of stones, stones, cement and a thin layer of tar, built above the original road to stay above the flood levels that brutally inundated the city’s central area.
These corridors, each several hundred meters long, were used exclusively for the movement of ambulances, police and army vehicles and trucks carrying humanitarian aid sent from other countries. With the floodwaters cleared from much of the center and the resumption, albeit partial, of public transport, these temporary emergency routes no longer made sense and, as the streets dried out, they were now more of a hindrance than a help.
An area of mass transport that is still completely paralyzed in Porto Alegre and has no expected return is the commuter trains. Porto Alegre’s three main stations were not only damaged, they were destroyed by flooding, and the tracks were also badly damaged, making rail connections between the capital and neighboring towns impossible.
At the moment, trains connect only five cities in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region, between Canoas and Novo Hamburgo. Despite this, trains must operate on this route at reduced speeds, and a week after services resume they are carrying only about 20% of the number of passengers they carried before the floods, and only in the same reduced time for safety reasons.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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