A Boeing 727-200 still surrounded by floodwaters weeks after the flood at Salgado Filho International Airport in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Between April and June 2024, record-breaking rainfall in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil led to the worst flood in the area’s history. More than half a million people were displaced, hundreds were injured, and more than 183 died in the floods. Roads and bridges were washed out, and basic services like electricity and access to drinking water for many residents were disrupted for days. Although some plan to stay and rebuild, the intensity and severity of the floods have forced many residents to move away as climate migrants.
According to scientists, climate change—driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, including those used in passenger air travel—almost certainly intensified the floods. In the larger context of the global climate crisis, this image of a plane suspended between sky and water becomes a foreboding symbol of the world’s collective climate future.
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