By Deutsche Welle
May 12, 2024, 11:40 AM EDT
A new burst of torrential rain It fell yesterday Saturday (05/11/2024) in southern Brazil, where historic floods have already left 137 dead, complicating emergency efforts and raising fears of new disasters.
“Many people see the rain and are traumatized. We notice the fear of the people. We know that when it rains the water ends up rising even more,” Enio Posti, a firefighter from Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, largely still flooded, told AFP.
The most dramatic situation is experienced in Rio Grande do Sul, a state bordering Argentina and Uruguay, where at least 136 deaths and 806 injuries have been reported and where 90% of the municipalities are affected.
Water patrols in the streets of Porto Alegre
In Porto Alegre, several police patrols navigate the flooded areas of the city to prevent robberies in stores and houses that have had to be evacuated.
A pier, located where there used to be a street, serves as a base for jet skisthe boats and inflatable boats that the agents use to enter a neighborhood near the airport that has been flooded for more than a week.
To reinforce the fight against insecurity during the floods, the Government of Rio Grande do Sul, the state most affected by the disaster, has suspended vacations for agents and summoned those who were in reserve.
Floods in southern Brazil have killed 137 people and the displacement of more than 618,000, according to the latest balance from the authorities. The river floods caused by the historic volumes of water that have fallen since the end of April in this agricultural state leave a total of 137 dead, 806 injured, 125 missing and more than 2.1 million people affected, according to Civil Defense.
The number of displaced people rose to more than 600,000, of which some 81,000 had to seek refuge in shelters improvised by the authorities.
Keep reading:
– The shocking images of the floods in Brazil that have already left more than 80 dead
– Deaths increased to 57 due to devastating rains in Brazil
– Boat full of decomposing bodies is found by fishermen off the coast of Brazil