By Amanda Perobelli and Lisandra ParaguassuELDORADO DO SUL, Brazil (Reuters) – After three days of ferocious rains, Edite de Almeida and her husband fled their flooded home in early May and let loose their humble dairy herd on higher ground. Nearby, the waters rose above her head and within a day they were lapping at the roofs of houses.Record-breaking floods in southern Brazil, the result of weather patterns intensified by climate change, have only started to recede after displacing half a million people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and killing more than 160.The full extent of the losses is still coming into focus, especially in rural areas where farmers like Almeida and her family produce much of Brazil’s rice, wheat and dairy.Of her 60 egg-laying hens, just eight survived. Their cows have nowhere to graze in the flooded landscape.”I’m not mourning. I’m grateful, because there are many who lost far more than us,” Almeida said. “I’m grateful we survived and I mourn for those who lost family.””Now the priority is to save the animals. The calves are still nursing,” she added.Her husband Joao Engelmann has made a daily trek by foot, tractor and boat to bring the herd whatever food he can find. He returns sopping w …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBy Amanda Perobelli and Lisandra ParaguassuELDORADO DO SUL, Brazil (Reuters) – After three days of ferocious rains, Edite de Almeida and her husband fled their flooded home in early May and let loose their humble dairy herd on higher ground. Nearby, the waters rose above her head and within a day they were lapping at the roofs of houses.Record-breaking floods in southern Brazil, the result of weather patterns intensified by climate change, have only started to recede after displacing half a million people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and killing more than 160.The full extent of the losses is still coming into focus, especially in rural areas where farmers like Almeida and her family produce much of Brazil’s rice, wheat and dairy.Of her 60 egg-laying hens, just eight survived. Their cows have nowhere to graze in the flooded landscape.”I’m not mourning. I’m grateful, because there are many who lost far more than us,” Almeida said. “I’m grateful we survived and I mourn for those who lost family.””Now the priority is to save the animals. The calves are still nursing,” she added.Her husband Joao Engelmann has made a daily trek by foot, tractor and boat to bring the herd whatever food he can find. He returns sopping w …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
