If last year the rainy season began and ended with floods, causing havoc and deaths in the states of Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, and Bahia, this year the catastrophe started in São Paulo’s northern coast with the city of São Sebastião heavily hit by storms, leaving more than 50 people dead due to landslides and flooding. 

Streets became rivers and houses were completely destroyed, with cars dragged as if made of paper and entire sections of the road surrounding the city vanishing in the region’s worst tragedy in 56 years. 

The usual excuses were given by politicians, such as that it rained more than expected. But the fact is that, year after year, no investments are made in urban planning and especially the poorest residents are pushed to at-risk areas on the sloped edges of the cities.

Unlike former President Jair Bolsonaro, however, who at the end of 2021 preferred to ride a jet ski during a day off to visit rain-hit areas in the state of Bahia, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva immediately went to the affected areas in São Paulo and promised to help with reconstruction.

Full article at Latino Rebels’ website. Date of publication: 06/03/2023.