Floods kill hundreds, render thousands homeless in Brazil
January 13, 2011

Brazil is in a peculiar position -- it has a fast-growing economy, but its per-capita income is roughly equivalent to that of the United States in the 1940s. That means there's still a lot of work to be done in some areas to bring the infrastructure up to what we would consider "modern" standards (remember, in 1940, the Interstate highway system was still 15 years away and the EPA wouldn't be organized for another 30. While infrastructure development isn't necessarily exactly correlated with national income, the two are generally very closely correlated. Thus it comes as no surprise that flooding and mudslides have killed more than 420 people in Brazil, partly because roads and bridges have collapsed and the electrical system has been disrupted. The deaths are a tragic reminder that infrastructure development is an essential part of public safety.

Stormwater management takes many forms, from the use of technologies like pervious concrete to the installation of flood-control gates. Please feel free to contact us with your questions.

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last revised January 2011