Um século de temporais e mudanças na paisagem em Niterói e São Gonçalo (RJ) – 1878-1979

Abstract

This study aimed to understand how the side effects of thunderstorms in large cities - in this case, two municipalities that are part of the Greater Rio de Janeiro - have become so frequent catastrophic levels in Brazil. There was a survey of all the time that the less impact they have caused, were reported in the press, more specifically in the newspaper "O Fluminense", in existence since 1878 and one of the oldest in the country, whose files were searched at the National Library and later in the Digital Newspaper Library of it. Were considered in the analysis of this material, the main features of the thunderstorm, the flooded areas, the main damage, geomorphological processes slopes and the number of victims, fatal or not. Came to an inventory of more than 300 events only until 1979, a period which ends this work, most of which occurred in the 60 and 70. The results show that this is a secular problem, which was to aggravating with population growth and the landscape changes, and accumulating over decades, not only with the omission, but also with the participation of public authorities. The formed database enabled a broader view, and evolutionary dynamics of this phenomenon.