The measure is preventive and seeks to strengthen prevention actions, especially in the case of rain and flooding.
The governor of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello, signed this Monday (18) decree establishing a state of climate alert for 180 days. The measure is preventive and seeks to strengthen prevention actions, especially in the case of rain and flooding, due to El Niño.
According to the state government news agency, there will be investment in monitoring, training and modernization of dams, but the measure is not a decree of emergency or state of public calamity.
“The objective is to allow the early mobilization of state bodies for prevention, monitoring and rapid response actions in the face of possible extreme events”, he informs.
The decree establishes objective criteria so that affected municipalities can declare an emergency situation, such as high levels of rain (rainfall exceeding 80 millimeters in 24 hours), displacement of families, interruption of essential services, landslides and orange or red level alerts issued by the state Civil Defense.
“The decree also provides for the mobilization of state employees to support Civil Defense actions and authorizes the use of resources from the State Civil Protection and Defense Fund (Fundec) to pay for preventive and operational measures,” explained the government.
The decree is valid until November, but can be extended. The state has already suffered major floods in 1983 and 2023 caused by El Niño.
The Child
The most recent studies, both national and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – a United States government agency that observes climate conditions, indicate a probability above 80% of El Niño occurring in July.
The situation at the beginning of May was neutral (water temperatures within the expected range for the tropical Pacific region), with warming of more than half a degree from July onwards.
The phenomenon is characterized by changes in the temperature of the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The current forecast is that El Niño will have greater intensity between December 2026 and January 2027, according to the North American agency and one of the references in the study of El Niño and La Niña.
Last Thursday (14), the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts (Cemaden) released a document with updated analyzes on the possible formation of the climate phenomenon and its impacts on the territory of Rio Grande do Sul. The text points to the “possibility of formation of a new episode of El Niño throughout 2026with a greater probability of action during the spring of this year and the summer of 2027″.
According to experts, the current scenarios “suggest a tendency for above-average rainfall in different regions of Rio Grande do Sul, in addition to temperatures higher than the climatological standard in certain periods”.
Last Friday’s bulletin, from NOAA, indicates an increased risk of more than two degrees of variation between November 2026 and February 2027, which led to an alert for the west coast of the United States, which is preparing for more intense storms and flooding.
According to the agency, the increase in the average temperature of the oceans, the increase in its height and the strength of El Niño coincide and can lead to a greater incidence of natural disasters.
Institutes linked to the Ministry of Agriculture and Science, Technology and Innovation have warned of the risk of rain in the South and greater difficulty in food production, with instability for food crops, such as rice, beans and corn.
