Flooding in POA

@chefjim

Although I am in the opposite end of Brazil, I can assure you that the current flooding will have naturally subsided by the end of May. The exceptional heavy rain they endured was caused by a number of meteorological factors occurring at the same time, including unusually high temperatures and high humidity for this time of year. Maybe the airline are also aware of this?

That said, there is no guarantee that it will not occur again just before you travel...

@chefjim NYTimes had an article yesterday showing quite a few photos of the devastation.  The only thing similar I have seen were the photos of New Orleans after Katrina. Unless you have friends/family that you want to assist I would avoid the area.  It's going to take some time to recover.  It's not just a matter of the water receding (btw, a friend of mine in Sao Paulo told me they are expecting more rain this week).  The area has to dry out and then all the damage needs to be repaired/replaced.  That isn't going to happen overnight. 

Airline flights will resume as soon as the airport can be re-opened, but that doesn't mean the area will be ready for visitors.

Try this...

The Porto Alegre MSA is nested in an estuary region.

You have a large dwelling sprawl with all kinds of buildings, by the low lands around the Guaiba and Jacui Rivers  and farther South by the Lagoa dos Patos ( Duck's Lagoon ). Trapping that estuary is an isthums that runs farther South towards the Towns of Rio Grande and Pelotas, Rio Grande being a Port City.

The entire City of Porto Alegre surrounds a large  watershed.

So, whatever plans you have to be there, at least through mid year, scratch it. 

It's just not rain precipitation.  Even after it dries up, there's the sediment to clean after, buildings to be shored up, bad plumbing, and the list is endless. 

It rained about four times the median expected precipitation, in a region surrounded by water.

It is so bad, Towns in the Serra Gaucha, the winemarking uplands, were affected by the rupture of damns.

Ola gente,

Thank you all...Peter, Mike, and SSB....for your comments and advice.  I'm finally getting more reports in from the area, and it doesn't look like I'll be going back soon.  My flight to POA was moved from next week to 30 May, with an option to cancel.  I cancelled it.  According to friends there, it takes about 8 hours to drive from POA to Caxias!  Mucum is totally gone!  Almost everyone in the Serra is now isolated.  I'm just hoping that this year's Semana Farroupilha is a good as ever! 

Abracos! 

I'm in PoA, I'm okay where I am but the situation in PoA is very bad; they're talking about the airport not being re-opened until SEPTEMBER, the main roads in and out of PoA are jammed constantly; the water is slowly receding but it'll be months before things are anywhere near back to normal. If you're flying in you'll probably get to Santa Catarina or Caxias do Sul, from Caxias a normal trip by car will take you 2 hours, but now we're talking 5-6 hours; and probably around 10 hours from SC.

Good luck!