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Brazilian family left homeless by floods discovers sanctuary under road bridge

Four months after devastating flooding wrecked their house in southern Brazil, Milton do Nascimento and his household still have no irreversible home and are sleeping rough under a highway bridge.

The Nascimento household includes three pigs, 24 goats, 2 boars, 5 horses and 10 canines - complicating their look for a. brand-new location to live.

If it weren't for the animals, I 'd be living someplace. else. But we need to look after them. My personal belongings are kept. away securely, however not the animals, the 58-year-old said.

Nascimento, his better half Gabriela and stepdaughter live just 300. meters (984 ft) from their house which was damaged in the. unmatched flooding that struck 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 household's house stays uninhabitable and. there is no prospect of returning. However they have refused to. leave their area under the bridge, despite the accessibility of. shelters, fearing your home will be robbed.

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

The couple chose to settle under the bridge at the. start of July, after residing in their van on the side of the. highway for two months.

They set up a tent with blankets and thermal insulation. boards, attached to a pillar of the bridge. There is a sofa,. table, stove, cleaning maker and television, connected to the. community's electrical energy network.

A broken fridge serves as a cabinet to keep food. safe from rats, and the household sleeps on bed mattress on a. mezzanine they developed with wood.

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

The most difficult part of life under the bridge is washing. and health. The restroom lies in a camping tent next to the. bridge, where they bathe with buckets and water supplied by the. community federal government.

After going through what we went through in the flood, this. is absolutely nothing. Now we remain in high-end. I have everything I require,. Gabriela stated.

Community main Lucas Vasconcellos said the household has. been used adequate shelter however they can not be convinced to. leave.

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

(source: Reuters)