Águas de maio: a capacidade estatal porto-alegrense sob as águas de 2024

Abstract

The climate disaster that resulted in the largest flood ever recorded in Porto Alegre, in the first half of 2024, revealed profound undercurrents and absences. The present monograph emerges from ruins and remnants, serving as the foundation for an analysis of the administrative state capacity of the municipal government of the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre. The analysis is conducted through the lens of the disaster that led to the April and May 2024 flood. To achieve this objective, a mapping of the political actions taken by the municipal executive power in the moments preceding the 2024 flood, as well as the emergency responses during the climatic event, was conducted. Additionally, a review was carried out of the political and structural changes in the municipality resulting from five major floods in its history: 1941, 1967, 2015, September 2023, and November 2023. This study was conducted through document analysis of historical data, official government reports, and journalistic sources. When examined through the framework of administrative state capacity, the data revealed failures and omissions in public management that amplified the effects of the climate crisis. Thus, it exposes the social, political, and environmental impacts of a public administration marked by the advance of neoliberalism and disregard for environmental warnings, fostering debates on urban vulnerability, occupation of natural spaces, memory, and political power.