Heavy rains that hit the state of Rio Grande do Sulin the south of Brazilthey left at least 10 people dead and 21 missing. Civil Defense also reported that the rainfall also forced the evacuation of 3,393 people in more than 100 municipalities in the state and many of them were transferred to shelters.
Furthermore, the storm reported 11 injured and 19,110 affected. Due to the seriousness of the situation, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed through his X account (formerly Twitter) that he will travel this Thursday to the affected place to ” verify the situation and the joint work of the ministers with the state government.”
The disaster left by the storm in Brazil
The persistent rainfall has left localities isolated by the Falling bridges and collapsing roads. For this reason, the authorities urged citizens to evacuate their homes if they are in areas near rivers or on hills, due to the risk of landslides.
In addition, the streets are interrupted in more than 60 points due to landslides, flooding or subsidence of roads. The governor of the state, Eduardo Leite, referred to the consequences left by the storm and maintained: “We are facing the worst disaster in history of our state.”
According to the first reports, the losses in the affected areas are around 100 million reais (about US$20 million) and the armed forces provided aircraft capable of performing night flights to undertake rescues in difficult-to-access areas.
However, bad weather conditions make work difficult in some locations. Throughout the state, some 130,000 people are without drinking water and the Telephone and internet services are interrupted in at least 60 municipalities.
In turn, the ruler explained that meteorological instability will continue in the coming daysand rainfall will reach unprecedented levels in some areas.
Eduardo Leite asked the President not only support with federal resources as aircraft to carry out rescues, but with “the effective participation and leadership of those who have training for a situation of chaos and war.” For his part, the vice governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Gabriel Souza, expressed a “special concern“by the dams on alert, “with risk of breaking and flooding.”
As for the deaths, they occurred in the towns of Encantado, Itaara, Pantano Grande, Paverama, Salvador do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Maria and Segredo.
Another strong storm in Brazil
In the month of September, at least 31 people died due to the passage of a devastating cyclone in the state. Experts attribute extreme events and meteorological instability to climate change and a worsening of the El Niño phenomenon.
Scientists estimate that current global temperatures are about 1.2ºC higher overall than in the mid-19th century, causing a increase in floods, droughts and heat waves.
Source: Ambito
