Brazil enduring worst drought in over 70 years, and rise in fires mostly linked to deforestation

(10 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coari, Brazil - 14 September 2024
1. Aerial of Solimoes River with low water levels ++MUTE++
2. Aerial of dry banks of the Solimoes River with stranded boats and floating houses ++MUTE++
3. Various of people walking, some carrying goods, in the dry banks of the Solimoes River
4. Dry banks of the Solimoes River
5. Rita Gomes in the dry bank of Solimoes River in front of her floating house
6. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Rita Gomes, 69-year-old local resident:
“It's very difficult (walking to the river to pick up the products). It is dangerous to fall in the mud, sometimes there are rays stuck in the river, so we go slowly and have to pass.”
7. Boat stranded in the river bank
8. Floated houses in the river bank
9. Boats and ferries in the River
10. Isabel Lima in a boat arriving from her community nearby and bringing vegetables to sell in the street market
11. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Isabel Lima, small farmer:
“This drought is really harming us. We can't get here (in the boat) at dawn (when they used to set up the tents). We can't see anything in front of us with all the smoke. Look at it! We can't see anything. It's dangerous to crash the canoe, sink, die. It is difficult.”
12. Various of people walking and carrying goods, in the dry banks of the Solimoes River
13. Boats in a small stream
14. Various aerial of a bridge over the almost completely dry Solimoes River ++MUTE++


STORYLINE:
Brazil is enduring its worst drought since nationwide measurements began over seven decades ago, with 59% of the country under stress — an area roughly half the size of the U.S.

Major Amazon basin rivers are registering historic lows, and have stranded dozens of communities, as the city of Coari, in the state of Amazonas.

Coari residents are struggling to get food, water and medicine, as the main access to the city is made by water.

Rita Gomes has lived in a floating house on the banks of the Solimoes River for 24 years. She now needs to walk across the dry river to pick up the products that arrive for the community by boat.

“It is dangerous to fall in the mud, sometimes there are rays stuck in the river, so we go slowly and have to pass.” said Gomes.

Drought is not the only problem.

From the beginning of the year until Sept. 8, Brazil registered almost 160,000 fires, the worst year since 2010.

Most fires are manmade as part of the deforestation process or for clearing pastures and agricultural land.

So far this year, an area the size of Italy has burnt in Brazil, and the smoke increasingly difficult to travel in the rivers.

“This drought is really harming us” says the small farmer Isabel Lima as she tries to leave her boat.

Lima lives in a community nearby and uses the Solimoes River to comes to Coari every week at dawn to arrive on time to sell her vegetables in the street market.

“We can't see anything in front of us with all the smoke. Look at it! We can't see anything. It's dangerous to crash the canoe, sink, die. It is difficult.” Says Lima.

Solimoes River é uma das principais bacias do Amazonas, banha 24 cidades do estado e junto com o Rio Amazonas forma a maior bacia hidrográfica do mundo.

It has registered its historic lows and significant rain is not expected until October.

AP video shot by Fernando Crispim

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