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In Manaus, Rio Negro reaches severe flood quota and waters already threaten houses on stilts

The Rio Negro reached, on Monday, 9, the mark of 29.10 meters, according to data from the Port of Manaus

May 10, 2022

10:05

Bruno Pacheco – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The flood of the Rio Negro, in Manaus, reached the quota of severe flooding over the weekend and recorded, on Monday, 9, the mark of 29.10 meters above sea level. The data are from the port of the Amazon capital and mark the beginning of flooding in stilt houses and businesses in some neighborhoods of the city on the banks of the waters.

In the Educandos neighborhood, houses on stilts already suffer with the consequences of the flood (Ricardo Oliveira/CENARIUM)

The probability, according to the estimate of the Geological Survey of Brazil (SGB-CPRM), is that the Rio Negro should reach 29.80 meters in 2022, considering 80% confidence. The rise of the waters, however, can vary between 28.7 and 30.10 meters, the latter being the maximum quota, and can be registered in June this year, approaching the historical record of 2021, when the water mark reached 30.02 meters.

Impacts

The impacts of the flooding of the Negro River are already affecting the daily life of the population, which is being pressured to seek help from public agencies. In all of Amazonas, the government predicts that 385 thousand people will suffer some consequence with the rising waters.

Until this Monday, 9, according to the State Civil Defense, there are 12 municipalities in emergency situations and 37 on alert. In rural Manaus, the estimate is that are impacted 14 communities with flooding, according to the municipal Civil Defense.

Rising river exposes irregular garbage disposal and the appearance of poisonous animals, such as snakes and alligators (Ricardo Oliveira/CENARIUM)

In the urban area of the capital, the Educandos neighborhood is one of those that suffers most from the adversities of the flood phenomenon. In the region, besides the flooding, the residents need to walk through wooden structures set up at a glance, by the authorities, between one house and another, and with the appearance of poisonous animals such as snakes and alligators.

Garbage in the Rio Negro

The first consequences, however, arise with the large amount of trash discarded irregularly in the waters and that, in most of the region, is not collected by the City, according to residents. Along with the dumping of waste in the river is the bad odor, generating discomfort for children, young people, and adults.

Flood of the Rio Negro exposes irregular garbage disposal (Ricardo Oliveira/CENARIUM)

“We are already in this situation and the tendency is for the river to rise much more. Unfortunately, the garbage is exposed with the rising waters and there is no collection most of the time,” stated Ivone Moura, this Monday, 9, in an interview to CENARIUM.

Housewife Ivone Moura lives in the Educandos neighborhood with her family and sees herself threatened by the flooding of the Negro (Ricardo Oliveira/CENARIUM)

The housewife lives in the Educandos neighborhood with her family, in a wooden house on the banks of the Rio Negro. With this year’s flood, the waters are already less than two feet from her residence and are not expected to stop rising.

Apprehensive, Ivone Moura shows CENARIUM the area behind her property where the refrigerator, the stove, and the cooking gas are, under a gap that follows towards the Rio Negro and the neighborhood. The fear is that heavy rain will hit the city and cause further inconvenience to her.