The 2024 disastrous flood of South Brazil: from what happened towards adaptation to climate change

Código

I-EBHE0194

Autores

Rodrigo Cauduro Dias de Paiva, Pedro Torres Miranda, Walter Collischonn, Ingrid Petry, Fernando Mainardi Fan, ANDERSON LUIS RUHOFF

Tema

WG 1.08: Deep Explanation & Evaluation for Practices in Hydrological Changes (DEEPHY)

Resumo

The disastrous flood that occurred in May 2024 in South Brazil was an extreme event with no precedents in several aspects. Extreme precipitation caused deadly flash floods in mountain river valleys, landslides and an extensive flood during more than a month. This record event collapsed flood control infrastructure, caused hundreds of human life losses, flooded more than 500 thousand people, and triggered indirect impacts in most of the population by the interruption of water and energy supply and destruction of transportation infrastructure. These record floods occurred in a region where recent research show increasing magnitude and frequency both from observations and from projections of climate change impacts. Now this region faces challenges for reconstruction and adaptation in the context of climate change. We describe this extreme event from a hydrological perspective. We also show proposed criteria for the adaptation to climate change for decision makers in the context of flood risk management and efforts for rebuilding the infrastructure and discuss related challenges.