In November 2008, Santa Catarina, one of the main States in Brazil, was flooded as never before due to heavy rains and storms between the 23rd and 24th. The state had suffered constant rainfalls for over two months on the coast, which turned the soil wet enough to cause a landslide during the storm that hit the state in late November. The floods and landslides had affected over 1.5 million people in 60 towns and the disaster had caused around 150 deaths and displaced about 78,700 from their homes.
A further 150,000 had been left without electricity, while water rationing was being carried out in at least one town due to purification problems. Several towns in the region had become isolated due to flooding and landslides. On November 23th , the Mayor of Blumenau, João Paulo Kleinubing had declared a state of emergency in the city, as water levels in the Vale do Itajaí had risen to eleven meters above the normal.
A family of Amma’s devotees happened to be in the affected area and they had made a frantic call to Sao Paulo devotees, asking for help. Inspired by Amma’s compassion, the devotees called the huge community of Amma’s followers in São Paulo city to make some donations. After a few days, they got a good quantity of provisions including food, water bottles (the flood victims did not have drinkable water) and other essential supplies. The devotees collected those supplies at the headquarters of fire department and sent them to Santa Catarina.
