For the second year in a row, residents of the Amazon rainforest have been hit by severe flooding. Hundreds of thousands have already been affected and the water continues to rise.
In the last two years, the heavy rains have been associated with the La Niña weather phenomenon, which researchers say is being intensified by climate change.
In Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, water levels began to be monitored in 1902. The seven worst floods have occurred in the last ten years, including this year.
“It is a confirmation that extreme climate events are increasing sharply,” said Luna Gripp, a geoscientist who monitors the water levels of the western Amazon River for the Brazilian Geological Survey (CPRM), in a written comment.
Two floods
In the state of Amazonas alone, 367,000 people have been affected by the recent floods, according to the state’s civil defense authority.
– I got through last year’s flood, and now I’m dealing with the 2022 flood, says fisherman Raimundo da Silva Reis, who lives with his son in the city of Iranduba.
He has built a makeshift plateau from a wooden plank in his home to get above the water level indoors.
The water level usually reaches its peak in Manaus in mid-June and it takes weeks, sometimes months, for the river water to sink away.
Raimundo da Silva Reis in Iranduba stands on a plank that keeps him and his belongings above the water. Agriculture is damaged
A total of five rivers, including the Amazon and the tributary of the Rio Negro, are currently flooded in the Amazon, leading to the issuance of a state of emergency by 35 municipalities in the Brazilian state.
The floods also cause great damage to agriculture, which is often conducted near the river bank where the soil is rich in nutrients, says Charlis Barros, head of the civil defense authority.