Disasters Getting Worse, Say Brazil Cyclone Victims

Humberto Simonaio, at 74 years old, had never encountered anything quite like this: the cyclone that struck southern Brazil caused the Taquari River to swell to unprecedented levels, inundating even elevated areas he had never seen flooded before.

Simonaio, the proprietor of the cherished, fifty-year-old ice cream parlor known as Keko in the severely affected town of Mucum, realized the necessity of relocating his freezers and other equipment to higher ground as the storm, laden with heavy rains, approached the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul last week. However, he could not have foreseen that the local river would transform into such a force that it would breach the supposedly safe location he had chosen – a friend's shed in one of the city's highest areas.

"Throughout my entire life, I had never been compelled to evacuate due to flooding," Simonaio remarked. Despite having a machine swept several meters away by the powerful current, he has plans to reopen his establishment soon. "I cannot fathom why these storms have become so formidable. This was the most significant in our history," he shared with AFP.

Mucum, with a population of 4,600, is not the only place facing such challenges. Experts assert that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent worldwide, affecting locations like Hong Kong, Greece, and Libya in just this month alone. Climate change is driving larger and more lethal disasters, leaving governments struggling to adapt.