Death toll from devastating rains in Brazil rises to 57

The deaths caused by the devastating floods that have hit southern Brazil increased to 57, according to the most recent report released by local authorities this Saturday. The figure has not stopped growing in the last four days, and reflects the caliber of the tragedy caused by what has come to be described as a “climate disaster.”

Rio Grande do Sul, a state bordering Argentina and Uruguay, is the most affected with 56 deaths, while another death was recorded in the neighboring state of Santa Catarina. Added to this are 67 missing people and tens of thousands of victims, of which 8,296 are in public shelters and 24,666 in the homes of family and friends in Rio Grande do Sul.

More than 8,000 people, some of them perched on the roofs of their houses, had to be rescued by helicopter or boat in what is considered by authorities to be the worst natural disaster in the history of the region. The rains have also affected Porto Alegre in recent hours, whose airport had to close on Friday for an indefinite period. Hundreds of passengers were unable to take their flights or leave the venue because the roads were blocked.

“Unprecedented” situation

The overflowing of water channels and landslides keep numerous roads interrupted in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with almost 300 towns affected, many of them isolated. The rapid rise in the last hours of the Guaíba River flooded the historic center of Porto Alegre, one of the largest cities in southern Brazil, with a population of almost 1.4 million.

In the Navegantes neighborhood, in the northern part of Porto Alegre, José Augusto Moraes de Lima asked the firefighters for help to rescue a child who was trapped in his house, because a leg problem prevented him from taking him with him. “Suddenly, in a matter of minutes, in less than an hour, everything flooded. I lost everything, television, wardrobe, bed, refrigerator, everything,” the 61-year-old shopkeeper told the AFP news agency in anguish.

The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, said on Saturday in a live broadcast on Instagram that this was a “dramatic” and “absolutely unprecedented” situation. Meanwhile, the mayor of Porto Alegre, Sebastiao Melo, reported that “despite the great containment effort,” a dam on another river that flows through the city, the Gravataí, began to overflow.