Brazil hydroelectric dam bursts under record rains
Brazilian power generation company Companhia Energetica Rio das Antas (Ceran) found a partial rupture in its 100MW 14 de Julho hydroelectric plant following record precipitation in Rio Grande do Sul state.
Flooding from the record rains has left 37 dead and forced more than 23,000 people out of their homes, causing widespread damage across the state, including washed out bridges and roads across several cities.
Ceran reported that the dam of the hydroelectric plant on the Antas River suffered a rupture under the heavy rains and the company implemented an emergency evacuation plan on 1 May.
Ceran's 130MW Monte Claro and 130MW Castro Alves plants are under intense monitoring, the company said in a statement.
Rio Grande do Sul state governor Eduardo Leite declared a state of emergency and the federal government promised to release funding for emergency disaster relief. Leite said the flooding will likely go down as the worst environmental disaster in the state's history.
Brazil's southernmost state along the border with Argentina has been punished by record precipitation over the past year owing to the effects of the strong El Nino weather phenomenon, according to Rio Grande do Sul-based weather forecaster MetSul Meteorologia.
Brazilian power company CPFL Energia controls Ceran with a 65pc equity stake. Energy company CEEE-GT, which is owned by steel manufacturer CSN, owns another 30pc, and Norway's Statkraft owns the remaining 5pc.
The state had declared a state of emergency as recently as September 2023 because of unusually heavy rains that resulted in the death of more than 30 people. Weather forecasters expect El Nino conditions to abate in the coming months over the eastern Pacific.
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