The number of deaths caused by floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 90, according to the latest balance released this Tuesday morning by local authorities.
The previous report from the authorities showed 86 dead and 134 missing.
Civil Defense data also indicate that There are 361 injured and 132 missing in the 388 municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul affected by floods.
The total number of people housed amounts to 48,147, another 155,741 people have been displaced and a total of 1,367,506 people have been affected by the heavy rains that have caused extensive damage since the beginning of last week.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stated this Tuesday in an interview that “The climate tragedy” in the southern region of the country derived from historic floods “is not over yet”.
It is a climate tragedy whose scale no one imagined and it is not over. The water is going down to other places and will reach other municipalities and this is very serious,” added the Brazilian president, in an interview with the public broadcaster EBC.
Lula da Silva also reinforced that the government is helping in this first moment, with a crisis room installed in Rio Grande do Sul to communicate with the state government and the municipalities and then think about reconstruction.
The government official also criticized the fake news that has proliferated in recent days about his government’s actions in this disaster.. “There is a lying ‘fake news’ industry, but I prefer to look at the number of people involved,” she said.
Brazilian authorities remain focused on rescuing isolated survivorswhile working to guarantee energy and water to the affected population.
The government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul issued an alert on Monday night about the risk of flooding in the municipalities located on the shores of Lagoa dos Patos.
Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) warned that the risk is worsening due to the cold front that will hit the southern region of the state and cause rain and a drop in temperatures this week.
Rio Grande do Sul declared a state of calamity last week, a situation that was recognized by the central government. In Porto Alegre, the capital of the Brazilian state, large areas remain flooded.
The southernmost state of Brazil has been greatly affected by climate change. After being affected by a severe drought due to the La Niña phenomenon last year, the region began to be affected by El Niño and recorded four climate disasters caused by cyclones and extratropical storms in less than 12 months.
In 2023, there were 75 deaths from natural disasters in this Brazilian state.
Source: Observadora
