At least 29 people have been killed in floods in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, in what has been described as “the most critical flooding recorded in history” by local authorities.
The storms, which have caused the greatest devastation in the state in recent years, also left 60 people missing and 10,242 displaced in 154 cities, according to Rio Grande do Sul’s civil defence.
“It’s not just another critical case; it’s the most critical that the state will probably have recorded in its history,” state governor Eduardo Leite said in a live broadcast on social media, adding that the situation is worse than last year’s rains in the state.
More than 300,000 people have also been left without electricity after a dam at a small hydroelectric power plant burst on Thursday, the state’s main utilities company said.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva travelled to the state on Thursday to meet with local authorities and express his solidarity.
“Everything that is within reach of our government will be done to attend to the needs of the people who are being affected by these rains,” he wrote on X.
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Operators reported electricity and water cuts across the state, and officials detailed numerous incidents of flooded roads, landslides and collapsed bridges as water levels of rivers and streams rose sharply.
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Rainfall reached six inches in some parts of the region in 24 hours, according to Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology, known by the Portuguese acronym INMET, on Tuesday.
Governor Leite said on Wednesday the floods would be “the worst climate disaster” the state has ever seen.
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South America is periodically affected by a climate phenomenon known as El Nino, but this year the impacts of it have been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon.
Scientists say extreme weather is happening more frequently due to human-caused climate change.
