ACRE, BRAZIL — Farm caretaker Everton Oliveira, 21, crossed a section of the Muru River by tractor in Tarauacá, in the interior of Acre, last Wednesday (9), as he was heading to the farm where he works. The moment was recorded on video.
In the footage, he appears driving the vehicle through the water, while a friend, riding a horse, goes ahead. The journey to the opposite bank took more than three minutes.
According to the Municipal Civil Defense, the river measured 3.63 meters on Friday morning (11). However, there are sections where the water level is lower, making the crossing possible.
Everton says the crossing is part of his routine for accessing the farm where he works and that, every year, he waits for the river’s water level to drop so he can cross with the tractor.
He usually leaves the city via an access road and crosses the river at a point near the property.
“Every year we wait for the river to go down a bit so we can cross with the tractor. Since it has already gone down, we managed to do it this week,” he said.
The crossing, however, is still not enough to transport larger loads to the farm. According to him, when the river gets drier, they also take advantage of the conditions to transport feed and sacks of salt for the animals using a cart.
“When it gets drier, we go down with the cart and load the things. But it is still not a good time to cross with these products because it is somewhat deep,” he said.
Everton also explained that the Muru’s water level does not drop in the same way every year. There are periods when the river dries up considerably, but there are also years when the water does not recede as much.
“It is not that common for it to get this low, because there are years when it does not go down completely like this, but there are times when it gets quite dry, so it depends a lot. Some sections are drier than others,” he said.
According to Everton, when the river is full and crossing through the water is not possible, the alternative is to use a boat or a ferry.
Amazon Agency