Brazil's Amazon region has faced devastating flooding and drought. Dramatic photos show life in towns weathering the extremes of climate change.

Wed, 01/03/2024 - 16:33

Left: Anama, Brazil, flooded. Right: Manaus, Brazil, dried up — Brazil's Amazon region has faced both devastating flooding and extreme drought.
Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images ; Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

Brazil's Amazon region has experienced both flooding and drought in recent years.
Rising temperatures across the globe contribute to increasingly intense natural disasters.
Photos show the extreme weather's impact on residents of towns along the Amazon River.

In 2021, towns in Amazonas, Brazil, along the Amazon River and its tributaries flooded due to heavier-than-usual rainfall.

Just two years later, the riverbeds turned to sand during months of drought.

The Amazon region floods annually during the rainy season, bringing nutrient-rich sediment from the Andes Mountains to the rainforest floor, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

However, rising temperatures across the globe have contributed to the increasing frequency and intensity of weather-related natural disasters.

Photos show how regions like the Amazon oscillate between extreme weather conditions as its residents struggle to adapt.

In the summer of 2021, Anama in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, experienced widespread flooding at record levels.

Residents navigate flooded streets in Anama, Amazonas state, Brazil, Thursday, May 13, 2021.
Edmar Barros/AP

Unusually high rainfall during the regular rainy season caused local rivers to swell to record levels, impacting 350,000 people across Amazonas state, the Associated Press reported.

In June 2021, the Rio Negro measured 29.98 meters (98.4 feet), its highest height on record since 1903, according to the scientific journal Weather and Climate Extremes.

The small town of around 14,000 people, known as "The Venice of Amazonas," became largely submerged underwater.

Flooded streets in Anama, Brazil — People sail on boats through the flooded streets due to the Solimoes river overflow in Anama, Brazil, on May 19, 2021.
Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

Residents swam and used canoes to navigate the flooded streets.

Farmers struggled to keep their livestock afloat.

Cows stand on wooden slats to stay above water in Anama, Brazil — Francisco Orivan Soares de Bastos uses wooden slats to keep his cattle afloat amid flood waters in Anama, Amazonas state, Brazil, on May 14, 2021.
Edmar Barros/AP

Cattle farmer Francisco Orivan Soares de Bastos used wooden slats to support his cattle.

Inside their homes, locals built raised platforms with wooden planks to stay above the water.

Valeria Ribeiro de Souza walks on a wooden plank that keeps furniture above floodwater inside her home in Anama, Amazonas state, Brazil, on May 13, 2021.
Edmar Barros/AP

"We are accustomed here, but this is going beyond the limits," 63-year-old Raimundo Sampaio Sobreira told AP.

Raphael Alves' photo of Anama, titled "Stranded," won an award in The Nature Conservancy's 2023 photography contest.

A woman holds her nephew in a house with water surrounding it — "Stranded" by Raphael Alves.
© Raphael Alves/TNC Photo Contest 2023

Alves, who grew up in the Amazon region, won first place in the contest's Climate category.

"Anama has been an 'amphibian city' for years," Alves captioned the photo, which was taken in 2021. "Without work, adults stay at home most of the time. Children, without classes and without public leisure spaces, are left playing in the flooded areas."

In October 2023, an Amazon River tributary drained to record lows due to prolonged drought.

Floating houses and boats are seen stranded at the Marina do Davi, a docking area of the Negro river, city of Manaus, Amazonas State, northern Brazil — Floating houses and boats are seen stranded at the Marina do Davi, a docking area in the city of Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil, on October 16, 2023.
Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

At the port of Manaus, where the Amazon River meets the tributary Rio Negro, water levels reached 13.59 meters — the lowest ever on record, Reuters reported.

Without the waterways connecting riverside towns along the Amazon, places like Anama and Manaus found themselves isolated.

A boat run aground in Manaus, Amazonas State, northern Brazil — A ferry boat is seen stranded at the Marina do Davi, a docking area of the Negro River, in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, on October 16, 2023.
Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

With boats unable to reach communities along the rivers, locals experienced transportation difficulties and had issues obtaining necessities like food and medicine.

Amazon residents dug wells in the cracked ground to obtain water.

A man digs for water in Manaus, Brazil — Ivalmir Silva digs a well to obtain water at Puraquequara Lake in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, on October 6, 2023.
Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

The drought affected 481,000 people in the state of Amazonas, according to local authorities.

"We have gone three months without rain here in our community," Pedro Mendonca, who lives in Santa Helena do Ingles west of Manaus, told Reuters in November. "It is much hotter than past droughts."

One surprising outcome of the drought was the discovery of prehistoric carvings that had been covered by water for around 2,000 years.

Ancient rock carvings in Manaus, Amazonas State, northern Brazil — Ancient rock carvings on the banks of the Negro River in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, on October 21, 2023.
Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

The faces, found carved into rocks in Manaus, resembled modern emojis.

"The site expresses emotions, feelings," archaeologist Jaime Oliveira of the Brazilian Institute of Historical Heritage told Agence France Presse (AFP). "It is an engraved rock record, but it has something in common with current works of art."

Large expanses of dry land where rivers once overflowed signaled a worrying trend.

A man walks through a dry area in the Amazon due to drought — Porto Praia in Amazonas state, Brazil, on October 8, 2023.
Gustavo Basso/NurPhoto via Getty Images

"We are already living a scenario of an altered climate that oscillates between extreme events, either of drought or heavy rains. This has very serious consequences not only for the environment, but also for people and the economy," Ane Alencar, science director of the nonprofit Amazon Environmental Research Institute, told AP in October. "I think there is a very high chance that what we are living now, the oscillation, is the new normal."

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Science, news-visual-feature, climate-change, brazil, amazon-rainforest, climate-crisis, Flooding, Drought, extreme-weather

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Brazil's Amazon region has faced devastating flooding and drought. Dramatic pho…