Torrential rains hitting southern Brazil, which have caused unprecedented flooding over the past week, have already claimed more than 60 lives. The most recent report indicates the existence of 66 deaths in the state of Rio Grande do Sul – which borders Argentina and Uruguay – and one in the neighboring region of Santa Catarina.

Authorities are investigating whether another six deaths are related to the climate tragedy, already considered the worst natural disaster in the history of the region. There is 101 missing people are still registered. Around 82,500 people had to be removed from their homes, 13,300 were taken to public shelters and another 69,200 were left homeless but received support in the homes of family and friends.

With the most recent report pointing to more than 60 deaths, Brazilian site G1 claimed that these torrential rains are already deadlier than the last ones that hit Rio Grande do Sul hard, killing 54 people in September last year. In this region, around 421 thousand homes remain without electricity and 115 municipalities do not have telephone and internet services, and 61 roads still maintain total and partial closures due to river flooding.

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RS FLOOD IMAGES

The images coming from Rio Grande do Sul are impressive and show the magnitude of the dangers that people are going through and the enormous losses.

In the video, the one who describes the desperate situation is the mayor of Sinimbu, Sandra Backs. pic.twitter.com/EBb1mOgDrf

—Roberto Bertholdo (@rbertholdo) May 2, 2024

This Saturday, the The floods led local authorities to block all access to the historic city center.. Asking the population residing in the region to move to safe places, the city of Porto Alegre announced that the Santa Marta Health Center, located in the historic center, closed due to the flooding of the Guaíba, with furniture and computer equipment being removed. from the ground floor to the upper floors of the building. Four other health units in the central region of the city were also closed.

The volume of water is so large that the Secretariat of Environment and Infrastructure of Rio Grande do Sul reported that the hydrometeorological station installed in Cais Mauá, in Porto Alegre, had reading problems during the early hours of this Saturday. Technicians from the Department of Water Resources and Sanitation have been, together with Civil Defense, checking the water level “in situ.”

According to the local press, the Guaíba River, which passes through Porto Alegre, has an elevation of around four and a half meters and is close to the historical record recorded in 1941, when the river’s flood reached 4.76 meters.

The storms that have hit southern Brazil led Pope Francis to dedicate his prayer this Sunday to the people: “May the Lord welcome the dead and give comfort to their families and to all those who had to leave their homes,” he said. pontiff.

Also this Sunday, Lula da SilvaThe president of Brazil traveled to Rio Grande do Sul, a region declared in a state of public calamity due to “climatic events of intense rain,” to visit the affected cities and the working group installed there. According to CNN, the Brazilian leader will fly over, if weather conditions permit, the regions of Canoas, São Leopoldo, Eldorado do Sul and Porto Alegre.

We arrived in Rio Grande do Sul to strengthen the work of supporting the people of Rio Grande do Sul that the federal, state and municipal governments have been carrying out.

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— Lula (@LulaOficial) May 5, 2024

Porto Chamber launches campaign to help the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre

The Porto City Council will launch a support and fundraising campaign for Porto Alegre. To Lusa, a source from the municipality clarified that it intends to “stand in solidarity” with the northeastern city.

According to the mayor of Porto, the independent Rui Moreira, the floods that are hitting the Brazilian State “should deserve concern.” “By calling the perfect of Porto Alegre, Sebastião Melo, to express the solidarity of the city of Porto, he asked me to publicize the support and fundraising campaign,” he says, quoted in a statement, appealing to everyone to help to “brother people”.

The storms hitting Brazil have destroyed roads, bridges, caused landslides and flooding since last Tuesday. The southernmost state of Brazil has been greatly affected by climate change. After suffering problems with 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.

Rio Grande do Sul, with a population of 11 million people, has been repeatedly affected in the last year by the El Niño climate phenomenon, which causes heavy rains in the south of the country and droughts in the north and northeast of the country.

News updated at 15:35 with the increase in the number of dead and missing