What followed the Samarco dam collapse

This series about the Mariana dam collapse was originally published by Brio, in Portuguese. It was translated by Gustavo Ribeiro and edited by Christine Bootes

Chapter 2: Caboclo Talk

After knowing that the nearby waterfalls had already been engulfed by the mud, Toninho Papagaio hurried back to the bar to tell the so-called “situation room” that the mud was coming – and soon. Around midnight, only four people were left at Nô’s bar: Mayor Magalhães, City Council Speaker Leleca, the owner of the city’s gas station, Virgílio Romualdo (known as Gilim), and the owner of the bar, Nô Totozinho – a nickname for Lademir Antônio Alves.

After hearing about the situation’s severity, the Mayor decided to take a chance and asked Papagaio for a favor: warn as many people as possible about the danger to come. Since his aides had already returned home, the Mayor had no one but the cab driver to knock on hundreds of doors. In his Renault Logan, Papagaio drove as fast as he could throughout the town, honking, yelling – doing everything possible to create noise and wake everyone up. A few decided to see what the hell is going on, while others were angry for being disturbed during their sleep. One man even wanted to literally hit Papagaio.

The cab driver reached the area where the Gualaxo and Carmo rivers meet, forming a T-shape. There, he found the house of Rômulo Gonçalves and his family. The property was divided in half: a bar was situated at the front, whereas the house of Gonçalves, his wife, and their three children was further back. Papagaio knew that they would be the first to be hit by the encroaching mudslide.

But Gonçalves didn’t seem to believe what he was told. No, he told the cab driver, this could only be some kind of joke. He would only leave his property if the Mayor himself were to come to his doorstep and ask him to. Otherwise, he wouldn’t move. “Prepare, then, as the river will swallow you all,” replied Papagaio, giving up and getting into his car, when Rosilene, a neighbor, started shouting. Her sister Beatriz had just called, saying that the water had invaded her porch.

Barra Longa is a small city; everyone knows where everyone else lives. Papagaio, of course, knew where Beatriz lived. He also knew that for the water to reach her house, its levels would have had to rise by 8 meters (26 feet). He did the math again. And again. And yes, that was it: the water was at least 8 meters high. Beatriz’s words left Papagaio deeply unsettled. He drove back to the town square, trembling with fear, honking and shouting to everyone, trying to warn them about the imminent danger.

The driver found Nô closing down his bar and arranging chairs, and offered him a piece of...