This past weekend served as a stark reminder that while Brazil may not often face colossal natural disasters — especially compared to its neighbors or the Caribbean nations — Mother Nature still has subtle ways of asserting her dominance around these parts. And the textbook examples of the effects of climate change have taken place in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s two largest cities, where the populations face contrasting climate-related challenges.
On the one hand, São Paulo experienced a week of power outages caused by heavy storms and strong winds, disrupting the city’s usual hustle and bustle. Some people went without power for more than four days, causing huge economic losses to households and businesses.
Meanwhile, Rio de Janeiro faced an unexpected encroachment of large waves that inundated the coast and caught beachgoers off guard. The situation stemmed from an extratropical cyclone in the ocean that pushed winds toward the region and prompted the Brazilian Navy to warn of waves in excess of 3.5 meters!
Although Rio’s infrastructure fared better than São Paulo’s, the incidents sparked discussions about preparedness, especially when it comes to Brazil’s most developed cities. The ongoing debate questions whether the privatization of certain public sectors played a role in exacerbating or mitigating these situations.
It was also an excellent opportunity to remember that Brazil is not immune to the effects of climate change, with this weekend’s events serving as a unique demonstration of the country’s vulnerability to nature’s unpredictability.
Check out the creation of this cartoon on The Brazilian Report’s TikTok (@brazilianreport) account.
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