Rio City Hall sets up support points for the population affected by the rains and opens Avenida Brasil to traffic

After the mobilization of the operational departments of the City of Rio during the morning, Avenida Brasil was completely reopened to vehicle traffic at around 11:45 am this Sunday (14/04), and the 29 sirens activated at around half past midnight were demobilized at 10:45 am. Since 2:45 am, the city has been in Stage 4, on a scale of five levels, and the guidelines for Rio de Janeiro citizens are: avoid traveling around the city and stay in a safe place.

VEJA TAMBÉM: Rio de Janeiro City Hall declares state of emergency in the municipality

In the early hours of the morning, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes set up an “Advanced Crisis Office” at the Jovelina Pérola Negra Cultural Arena in Pavuna, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the rain, which began early Saturday afternoon (13/10) and reached a record high of 259,2 mm at the Anchieta weather station, 40% more than expected for the entire month. From there, he directed the actions of municipal agencies and ordered that eight locations in the North Zone be transformed into support points to provide shelter and assistance to residents.

Avenida Brasil was reopened to traffic at around 11:45 a.m. this Sunday. In the early afternoon, the Operations Center still recorded two points with pockets of water and nine other points of flooding. In a joint action by CET-Rio and Seop, 38 stalled vehicles were removed on Av. Brasil, heading towards the Center. In the West Zone, nine vehicles were removed.

Twenty-nine sirens were activated in communities with the Alert and Alarm System in the early hours of the morning. The sirens were only deactivated on Sunday morning.

According to information from the Municipal Health Department, the basement of the Ronaldo Gazolla Municipal Hospital in Acari, where the garage and some operational and maintenance sectors are located, was flooded. The building's power was turned off for safety reasons and all life support equipment began operating on its own batteries, with great autonomy and without interruption. The patients were closely monitored by health professionals. During the early hours of the morning, the Municipal Conservation Department and Rioluz sent teams and machines to drain the water from the basement, clean the external area and check and release the unit's power grid. By mid-morning, only the ground floor remained without power.

Due to problems caused by the rain, outpatient appointments that were scheduled for this Sunday at the hospital had to be suspended and will be rescheduled for a later date. Starting this Monday (15/01), the unit will contact patients to inform them of the new date for appointment.

The Advanced Crisis Office set up in Pavuna brought together the city's main operational departments, such as Civil Defense, Public Order, Conservation, Housing, Social Welfare, Comlurb, Transportation, Health, CET-RIO, among others. The office will operate 24 hours a day, until the situation returns to normal in the North region, which was the region most affected by the rains on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

By the end of the morning, eight temporary support points were set up in the North Zone. Employees from the Municipal Department of Social Welfare are on site. See which ones they are:

– Charles Anderson Weaver Municipal School;

(Carlos Pachêco Ávila Street, S/N – Coelho Neto)

– Barbosa Lima Sobrinho Municipal School;

(Dike Street, 166 – Jardim América)

– Telêmaco Gonçalves Municipal School;

(Enio Square, S/N – Pavuna)

– Herbet Moses Municipal School;

(Cristiano Machado Street, S/N – Jardim América)

– Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual;

(Rua Gen. Etchegoyen, 199 – Parque Columbia)

– Assembly of God Church;

(Embaú Street, 496 – Pavuna)

– Municipal School Writer and Journalist Daniel Piza;

(Avenue Pref. Sá Lessa, 229 – Acari)

– Municipal School Belgium.

(Francolim Street, 50 – Guadalupe).

STREET CLEANING

Comlurb employed 1.400 street cleaners to minimize the impacts of the rain. The street cleaners who were off duty were called in to reinforce the emergency teams in the North Zone, where the Acari River overflowed and flooded the region. There were 600 street cleaners, 200 of which were just to serve the neighborhoods of Acari, Fazenda Botafogo, Pavuna and Parque Columbia.

The Company continues to employ 12 mechanical shovels, five mini mechanical shovels and dump trucks to support waste removal, in addition to water trucks to wash the streets. In addition to Comlurb's operation, the city government has also mobilized 48 trucks, 12 Vac All trucks (to suck up water), 12 backhoes and 113 more employees.

In the West Zone, the operation to remove goods left on the street by residents, clean and wash the streets involves 300 street cleaners, six mechanical shovels and 13 dump trucks and water trucks.

The special operation also has the support of 490 street cleaners assigned to clean the beach during the summer, who are reallocated to meet emergency demands.

RECORD RAINFALL

The sky is expected to remain overcast to cloudy with light to moderate rain expected in the coming hours. Stage 4 is the fourth level on a scale of five and means that one or more serious events are impacting the city or that there is a simultaneous occurrence of several medium and high-impact problems in different regions. The main recommendations for this stage are: postpone appointments; stay in a safe place; only travel if you are in a risk area or in case of extreme necessity; and offer shelter to friends and family.

Due to the movement of a stationary cold front over the ocean, the city of Rio was hit by continuous rain starting on Saturday afternoon. The rain nuclei showed a characteristic of slow movement through the city's neighborhoods. The North Zone of Rio was the region most affected. Neighborhoods such as Anchieta, Pavuna, Acari, Madureira and Irajá recorded high accumulated rainfall.

In Anchieta, for example, it rained 259,2 millimeters in a 24-hour period. In just one hour, the neighborhood's weather station recorded 72,6 mm (at 22:30 p.m. on Saturday). Both records were records in the historical series of the Rio Alert System at that equipment. In Irajá, the rain gauge indicated 209,2 mm/24h (also a historical record for the neighborhood); in Madureira, the rain reached 186,4 mm/24h. The Pavuna, Acari, Quitungo and Cachorros rivers overflowed.

According to information from the Alerta Rio System, it rained in Anchieta in just 24 hours, approximately 40% more than the historical average for January in that region. In other words, in just one day it rained much more than was expected for the entire month: 138,4% of the January average. The same scenario was seen in Irajá: 123,6% of the January average. In Madureira, it was almost 10% more than the monthly average: 109,7% of the January average.