Brazil. Floods and football
An update
According to the latest estimates, the mass flooding in Brazil has killed at least 75 people and over 80,000 people have been forced to leave their homes across Rio Grande do Sul in the south of the country. As reported in The Guardian, in some cities, water levels were at their highest since record-keeping began almost 150 years ago.
Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul’s capital, is home to Brazilian Série A clubs, Grêmio FBPA and Sport Club Internacional. The two clubs are using their communication channels to share emergency information with local people and wider audiences (between them, they have a reach of over 5 million followers). At the same time players and staff from both men’s and women’s teams have been getting involved in the response efforts. See for instance here, here and here.
As the pictures here show, both clubs have seen their grounds directly affected and both clubs have also seen their upcoming CONMEBOL tournament fixtures postponed (the equivalent of the UEFA club tournaments).
The catastrophic events and their impacts are still unfolding and there is ongoing reporting from news outlets around the world. For the latest updates from the clubs, see their social media channels: Grêmio FBPA, Gurias Gremistas and Sport Club Internacional. This short post just aims to help draw attention to the ongoing situation. Any further in-depth look at the events and the issues would be for another day.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
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