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STORY: UN REFUGEE AGENCY OFFICIAL ANDREW HARPER: "At what point do you basically have to slap somebody in the face and say: Wake up..."

The record floods in Brazil this year are a major sign of more disasters to come throughout the Americas, says Andrew Harper, a special adviser on climate action to the United Nations refugee agency.

Floods have displaced nearly half a million people and killed over 170 in southern Brazil this year.

:: June 25, 2024

"It's a warning signal, but we've been seeing warning signals now for five, 10 years."

He visited a neighborhood in Porto Alegre left devastated by the floods.

Residents have not returned even after the flood waters subsided and many are still living in shelters.

The U.N. refugee agency is helping the local government build temporary housing.

"It was underwater for almost 40 days. There weren't even any rats running around. Everything had died.”

Roughly 389,000 people remain displaced in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Local officials say it's the worst disaster in the region's history.

Some residents may never return, Harper says, having been forced to move due to repeated floods.

Scientists say climate change made the flooding twice as likely to happen.

Harper says governments need to understand where the people must vulnerable to climate change live and include them in their climate plans.

"We're seeing the emergence in Brazil of what we may be seeing throughout the Americas. So to ignore this, they do it at their own peril.”