The level of the River Acre has dropped by more than a metre in the last 24 hours in the Acre capital and reached 13.80 metres at the 6am measurement on Monday (11), taken by the Municipal Civil Defence. As a result, the river has fallen below the overflow level, which is 14 metres. As a result, around 40 families have already left the shelters set up by Rio Branco City Hall on their own. However, the agency explained that these people have not been allowed to return, but have received assistance with bags and cleaning kits. "We have signs of an ebb and flow and this is already improving the situation of families being evacuated and sheltered. But on the other hand, other problems are starting to emerge, such as the clearing of streets, the issue of bridges and the craters that are starting to appear. This takes us to a second stage at the moment," commented the municipal Civil Defence coordinator, Colonel Cláudio Falcão. "As far as the shelters are concerned, nothing has changed. The families affected by the flood will continue to be housed at the city hall and will only be able to return to their homes when the river reaches a safe margin. So, as long as the river doesn't recede sufficiently to 11 metres, we don't recommend that these families return to their homes. So much so that the people and families we are responsible for are not being allowed to return," said Cláudio Falcão, from Civil Defence. "In addition, people need to make sure that their neighbourhood is prepared to receive them, in other words, whether there are streets that are still flooded, streets that are still muddy, contaminated wells, geological risks, all of this must be observed," said Civil Defence coordinator Colonel Cláudio Falcão. In Rio Branco, the spring had exceeded the overflow level, which is 14 metres, on 23 February. On the 29th of the same month, six days later, the Acre River reached 17 metres and remained above the mark until last Friday (8), when it dropped to 16.59 metres. On Wednesday (6), the river reached its highest level of the year - 17.89 metres. This is the second highest flood in history, since the measurement began in 1971. The highest level ever recorded was 18.40 metres in 2015. At the time, more than 100,000 people were affected by the flood.

Source: Amazon Agency