Massive floods in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 75 people over the last seven days, and another 103 were reported missing, local authorities have said.
Damage from the rains also forced more than 88,000 people from their homes, state civil defence authorities said on Sunday. Approximately 16,000 took refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other temporary shelters.
The floods left a wake of devastation, including landslides, washed-out roads and collapsed bridges across the state. Operators reported electricity and communications cuts. More than 800,000 people are without a water supply, according to the civil defence, which cited figures from water company Corsan.
“I repeat and insist: the devastation to which we are being subjected is unprecedented,” state Governor Eduardo Leite said on Sunday morning. He had previously said that the state will need a “kind of ‘Marshall Plan’ to be rebuilt”.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Rio Grande do Sul for a second time on Sunday, accompanied by Defence Minister Jose Mucio, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and Environment Minister Marina Silva, among others. The leader and his team surveyed the flooded streets of the state capital, Porto Alegre, from a helicopter.
Credit: aljazeera.com
