Climate catastrophe: Brazil's devastating flood - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service

I've seen hardly anything about this story in the U.S. news online. I had no idea it was this bad. Thanks for sharing and making me aware. My heart goes out to the suffering people.

Warning? What warning? It's consequences here and now. Media insist on using this 'infantilizing' language to talk to the public. Stop.

The English-speaking viewer will not get a real sense of the scale of the events, the desperation, and the natural and historical characteristics of this iconic state from the correspondents in the video. Their descriptions were superficial, particularly in the case of Mr. Daniel Gallas, who seemed like a random passerby. They could have provided a better understanding of certain aspects, even with limited time. For example, they could have mentioned that the floodgate and pump system completed in the 1970s, designed to prevent floods like the one in 1941, was meant to be the most efficient in Brazil. However, after many decades of calm, people forgot the risks, and even mayoral candidates promised to tear down the wall to reconnect the urban landscape with the river. Over successive administrations, the lack of priority led to serious neglect in maintaining the system. They could have also highlighted the importance of wind in retaining the Guaíba River, explaining that this body of water is controversial because it has characteristics of both a river and a lake. Furthermore, it is connected to a lagoon, commonly referred to as a lake, which has a single narrow outlet to the sea affected by the tides.

Absolutely grim, I just don't think people are even remotely prepared for what is coming, down the line, with climate change and the devastation it will bring.

Looks like we've worn out our welcome mat with the Earth

Yet "its not impacting me" attitude prevails, till it does impact us directly

It was so heartwarming to see South American athletes give their strength support let alone others to help their fellow countrymen Bless you All I myself have some beautiful South American friends and feel for you all ❤️🙏🏼

meanwhile the Pantanal is burning - the world's largest wetland mainly in Brazil (and invaded illegally by Cargill!)

It’s soo sad to me seeing my home state back in Brazil going through this situation 😢

South Florida is under water too, 50cm of rain in the last 3 days.

This kind of situation hapens in the country every year, killing people and destroying their homes, but what happened in Porto Alegre is quite shocking. It´s a whole diferent story. The country is not prepared for this, and it will only get worse.

Several regions were hit by more than 700 mm (27 inches) of rain in just one week. Neither the population, governments, infrastructure or animals were prepared for this. Most of the rescues were done by the population and by their own means. The situation came to the point that if you don´t need help, you need to help. The population its taking the lead, improvising shelters, bringing food and clothes for those in need, rebuilding roads and even bridges. Thanks for everyone who is helping in someway.

Voted for allowing clearing Amazon has consequences. Keep the indigenous guardians safe

The world weather pattern has changed and we are experiencing these horrendous effects ...on a global scale.

Its not an if or maybe. It’s happening right now as we speak. And we are still arguing about its existence.

Save Our Planet Now!

So Happy to see Caitríona Perry who I follow from Ireland and now she at The US BBC talking about my country Brazil. 🇧🇷 I feel glad that at this hard moment dear ones are looking at us.

Report from Japan. I've been worried about the weather forecast not being accurate since last year, and I saw the same video on PBS in the US. If this is a global symptom, then it is truly evidence of climate change. When it rained a little bit last year, it used to stop after a few hours, but it kept coming back and forth for about 20 hours straight. As a result, water overflowed from the river where construction was underway, causing partial flooding. That's why floods are scary not only in violent storms, but also in continuous rain. Hail is also rampant in many parts of the world. Floods and hail destroy crops all around. If individuals do not save more energy and slow global warming even a little, food shortages will lead to war. I recommend a passive cooler like my icon.

I really thank the BBC for producing this compelling and chilling work of Journalism. I watched this on June 14, 2024, and up until now I was not aware of this unprecedented catastrophe. Caitríona Perry does a great job at presenting this, and it's easy to see her heart and genuine concern for our rapidly changing climate is sincere. The shear scale of this should have put it front and center on every news channel in the world. Nearly, 1 million people displaced is distressing and portends a coming catastrophe that we are simply not prepared for. Caitríona - does a great job with her thoughtful questions, and video footage - in bringing the scale of this into focus. I am sure that the vast majority of people have no doubts that our climate is changing and it's accelerating faster than previous models predicted. The key area of confusion is that there were always hurricanes, big supercharged storm systems, flooding, and wild fires long before we realized that humans were dramatically changing the climate. The manmade changes (via burning fossil fuels) essentially adds a great deal of energy in the form of heat to our existing climate, so the amount of water dropped in a rain storm is amplified. The same is true with extensive drought and wild fire events that always were a part of our climate, but as you increase heat - energy - you evaporate more water, and much faster. Day by day our climate models are being updated as more data is compiled, and we are experiencing catastrophic "consequences" Now. This isn't a phenomenon of some distant dystopian future climate change theory. It's affecting the world in a big way Now. The most up-to-date supercomputer generated models are showing major parts of the world underwater (not by the end of the century) but in the next 15 to 25 years. In the here and now we are seeing an acceleration of extreme weather events world wide day by day. At some point the magnitude of destruction will be insurmountable - crops fail - our ability to rebuild infrastructure is exceeded and civilization as we know it collapses. Clearly, we are on the brink.

I can't say for sure but I believe that the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul is unique and unprecedented in modern times (last 200 years) if we take into account the size of the affected area, the size of the affected population and the depth of the impact on life of millions of people. Eu não posso afirmar com certeza mas acredito que a tragédia do Rio Grande do Sul é única sem precedentes em tempos modernos (últimos 200 anos) se levarmos em conta o tamanho da área atingida, o tamanho da população atingida e a profundidade do impacto na vida de milhões de pessoas. .