Guaíba Reaches Municipal Alert in Porto Alegre as Local Flooding Begins

Overview

• The Guaíba rose to about 2.51–2.52 meters at Cais Mauá on Friday, July 31, exceeding Porto Alegre’s municipal alert mark of 2.50 meters while remaining below the Serviço Geológico do Brasil’s 2.60-meter benchmark.
• That rise has already caused localized flooding under the new Guaíba bridge on Rua João Moreira Maciel and produced standing water that is blocking traffic in some areas.
• Porto Alegre’s Civil Defense has set up command posts on vulnerable islands and in affected neighborhoods as Dmae says there is no current forecast to trigger flood‑protection gate closures, whose protocol begins at 2.84 meters and whose protected-area inundation benchmark is about 3.0 meters.
• Hydrological agencies warn river levels will stay elevated because flood waves are still moving downstream from the Jacuí and other basins, and the state monitoring center issued a very-high-risk notice for the islands plus an alerta vermelho for the rio dos Sinos.
• Meteorological services have warned of a cold front and heavy storms starting Saturday with up to about 100 mm of rain and strong winds, which could push river levels higher and widen impacts if forecasts verify.