Residents from different regions of the state had their homes flooded, lost goods and saw their harvests destroyed by the water
Of the 62 cities, 40 are in an emergency situation due to the flood of Rio Negro. Another 18 are on alert. Until this Saturday (5), more than 533,000 people were affected. According to the Amazonas Civil Defense Monitoring and Alert Center, the height of Rio Negro in Manaus reached 29.02 meters on Saturday and is on a critical level of flood. Residents of different regions of the state had their homes flooded, lost goods and saw their harvests destroyed by the water.
Students unable to go to school are taking classes online with the support of the class at home project, created during the Covid-19 pandemic and adopted in flood situations. Although not the largest historic mark (in 2021, the level reached 30.02 meters), the water this year rose faster, according to the Secretary of Civil Defense, Colonel Francisco Ferreira Máximo Filho.
“Intense rainfall have affected the state in recent weeks and there has only been a break in the historic highs because we are coming from a drought period,” says Máximo. In fact, in December 2024, the level reached 12.11 meters, the lowest registered minimum.
The Civil Defense estimates that in the coming days the water level will stabilize and gradually begin to decrease, even with continuous rains in northern Amazonas and Roraima. The state has nine gutters (subdivisions of watersheds) and all follow in full process. Only four cities across the state do not face the scenario. “It is important for people to understand that they are living under a real threat,” warns the colonel.
Climate change
Traditionally, the height of Rio Negro increases from March and decreases in July. The rise this month lights alerts. No wonder while calculating the damage, the Civil Defense works with the prospect that such events happen again in the coming years. And the largest responsible, it points out maximum, are climate change.
“As long as international agreements are not fulfilled and do not observe a reduction in the effects of global warming, the tendency is for the world to continue with this climate imbalance, from river erosions to floods and droughts,” he says.
“We should not surprise because we are convinced that we are affected by changes in the ecological system,” adds the colonel. He comments that, before flooding, the Civil Defense monitoring system had already issued alerts to cities. In addition, Amazonas has a permanent committee of extreme climate events.
“We are talking about a state that has a lot of housing deficit, sanitation problems and infrastructure. This leads many people to live in vulnerable situations, which increases the risk in these flood scenarios,” he points out.
Containment of damage
To deal with the problem, the Government of Amazonas sent 580 tons of food, 57,000 glasses of water and 10 water purifying kits to the affected municipalities. According to the bulletin released daily through the Operation Full 2025 program, 72 drug kits and a mobile water treatment station travels through the streets of affected areas were also sent.
