The challenges of the Brazilian electric energy regulatory agency on mitigate effects from 2024 Rio Grande do Sul floods
Figure 7. Precipitation levels recorded in some cities in Rio Grande do Sul[INMET, 2024]
Lake Guaíba, which bathes the capital Porto Alegre, then surpassed the historic mark of 1941, reaching a level of 4.77 metres, causing flooding in several districts of the city, including the Historic Center. With the warning of a partial collapse of the dam at the 14 de Julho Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Rio das Antas basin, residents of seven municipalities in the metropolitan region were warned to leave risk areas. It was reported that the collapse created a wave of approximately 2m, aggravating the flooding in already inundated communities nearby[19]
.
After a few days without rain, the advance of a high-altitude warm front over the colder air that was acting in the state, which became semi-stationary, accompanied by a low-level jet stream and a low-pressure center, led to the formation of a line of instability, and from May 10 onwards, a new period of intense precipitation began, concentrated in the northern half of the state, affecting regions where the headwaters of several rivers that had overflowed but were in the process of subsiding are located, such as the Jacuí, Taquari, Antas, Caí, Sinos, Paranhana and Gravataí. The new wave of instability also caused two tornadoes to form, both on the 11th, one in the municipality of Gentil, with an estimated intensity of between F0 and F1 on the Fujita Scale, which hit the countryside and caused no damage or victims[20]
and the other in the urban area of the municipality of
Cambará do Sul, in the Vila Santana district, with estimated winds of 140km/h, damaging 57 houses, a school and a health centre. A third period of rain between May 23 and 24 was produced by the formation of a low-pressure area to the east of Rio Grande do Sul, accompanied by the arrival of a strong mass of cold air of polar origin and winds from the southern quadrant with storm force, estimated at 70 to 90km/h. Although several inland rivers rose again, this episode affected the Porto Alegre region more intensely. The figures portray a scenario of destruction caused by the rains and floods in 463 municipalities in the
state. Together the cities recorded 169 deaths, 41 missing, more than 500,000 displaced and a total of 2.33 million people affected. According to Civil Defense, at the beginning of June, the figures were as follows:
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