Brazilian family left homeless by floods finds refuge under road bridge

By Debora Ely

PORTO ALEGRE (Reuters) - Four months after devastating flooding wrecked their house in southern Brazil, Milton do Nascimento and his family still have no permanent home and are sleeping rough under a highway bridge.

The Nascimento family includes three pigs, 24 goats, two boars, five horses and 10 dogs - complicating their search for a new place to live.

"If it weren't for the animals, I'd be living somewhere else. But we have to look after them. My belongings are stored away safely, but not the animals," the 58-year-old said.

Nascimento, his wife Gabriela and stepdaughter live just 300 meters (984 ft) from their house which was destroyed in the unprecedented flooding that hit the city of Porto Alegre and surrounding areas in May, killing more than 180 people and driving half a million more from their homes.

The Nascimento family's house remains uninhabitable and there is no prospect of returning. But they have refused to leave their spot under the bridge, despite the availability of shelters, fearing the house will be looted.

Then there is the matter of the 44 animals, which are living in makeshift pens beneath the bridge or tethered on nearby land.

The couple decided to settle under the bridge at the beginning of July, after living in their van on the side of the highway for two months.

They erected a tent with blankets and thermal insulation boards, attached to a pillar of the bridge. There is a sofa, table, stove, washing machine and TV, connected to the neighborhood's electricity network.

A broken refrigerator serves as a cupboard to store food safe from rats, and the family sleeps on mattresses on a mezzanine they built with wood.

The buses and trucks crossing the bridge make their refuge shake. Still, Nascimento's mother, 80-year-old Iauria, joined them a month ago.

The most difficult part of life under the bridge is washing and hygiene. The bathroom is located in a tent next to the bridge, where they bathe with buckets and water provided by the municipal government.

"After going through what we went through in the flood, this is nothing. Now we're in luxury. I have everything I need," Gabriela said.

Municipal official Lucas Vasconcellos said the family has been offered adequate shelter but they cannot be convinced to leave.

"They resist leaving that space, no matter how precarious and unsafe it is," he said.

(Reporting by Debora Ely, Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Helen Popper)