Porto Alegre City Hall begins the demolition of 70 houses in an area affected by flooding The Porto Alegre City Council has started the demolition process of 70 houses in section 1 of Vila Dique, North Zone of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The area was heavily hit by the 2024 flood, in Rio Grande do Sul. As the name suggests, the village is located on a dike, next to Arroio Teixeira, which is part of Porto Alegre's flood protection system. Over the almost five decades since its construction, the structure has been irregularly occupied at several points, compromising its protection capacity, according to the city hall. ? Access the g1 RS channel on WhatsApp After the climate catastrophe that hit Rio Grande do Sul two years ago, the dike will undergo a reconstruction process. The works will begin after the completion of the removal of residences, vegetation removal and removal of the existing electricity network in the area. "The dike exists to protect this region of the city. The construction of this dike took place over 40 years ago and, naturally, it becomes compacted over time. So, it is already much lower. In some points, more than one meter lower. At one point, it even broke. We need to redo the dike", explains the municipal secretary of Works and Infrastructure, André Flores. However, even after the floods, many residents returned to their homes there. Of the 70 families living in Vila Dique, 53 have already purchased properties through the federal government's Compra Assistida program. Porto Alegre City Hall begins demolition of 70 houses in an area affected by the floods of RS Pedro Piegas/PMPA Two are covered by the Solidarity Stay modality, while another 15 were relocated to unoccupied houses in the community, where they will remain until receiving permanent housing. "I've lived here for over 20 years. Seeing my house being destroyed was sad. I raised my daughter here, she's 17 years old. She grew up here with everything. The dike, for me, was everything. Now I'm living in an apartment. It's not the same. I love the dike. I'm not from Porto Alegre, I came here when I was seven. And I've always worked with recycling", says recycler Carina de Lima Silva. For Amadeu Machado, 68 years old, leaving Vila Dique will not be an easy task either. Mainly for the animals he raises. "I have an apartment there, I got it, but I can't take all the animals. I have animals with love and I can't lose my animals. And I'm still paying there, I have to pay. I'd rather go under a tree and not abandon my animals than go to the apartment. The apartment is not for me. I grew up on the land", he states. The municipality declared that teams from the Animal Cause Office (GCA) and the General Inspection Directorate carried out an inspection to verify the situation of the animals in Vila Dique. During the action, around 10 animals were found, all microchipped and accompanied by their guardians, who said they were prepared to transport the pets during the move. The works The works should last around 15 days. This is the first of four phases planned for the demolition of houses in Vila Dique. The scope of the interventions also depends on the definition of the definitive project for the polders, which act as sponges to absorb water, where immediate flood protection works are currently being carried out. The Municipal Department of Water and Sewage (Dmae) proposed to the state and federal governments a change in the design of the project for the region. If approved, the proposal will include the construction of a large permanent buffer basin and two new Stormwater Pumping Stations (Ebaps). For the city hall, if the new design is approved, the dike would no longer perform its main function of containing water from springs and would start to act as an auxiliary structure for urban drainage, allowing its implementation with less robustness, without losing its importance in the city's defenses. VIDEOS: Everything about RS