Flood Deaths in Brazil Increases, Lula Visits Affected Areas

Severe flooding in southern Brazil has killed at least 76 people, while another 103 remain missing, authorities said Sunday at noon, 75 of them in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, near the Argentina and Uruguay border.

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Authorities are investigating whether six other deaths are related to the climate tragedy that has hit the south of the country since the beginning of the week and is already considered the worst natural disaster in the region’s history.

Agencia Brazil reports that rains that hit the Rio Grande do Sul since last week have affected more than 780,7 thousand people. Also, the nes agency says that the death toll surpassed the state’s last environmental catastrophe in September 2023, when 54 people were killed by an extratropical cyclone.

The rains also forced 95,7 thousand people to leave their homes, between 104,6 thousand displaced and 16,6 thousand displaced. Of the 497 Rio Grande do Sul municipalities, 334 were affected by heavy rains, representing 67.2% of the state’s cities.

In Rio Grande do Sul, with a population of 11 million people, some 421,000 homes remain without electricity until this morning, and 115 municipalities lack telephone and internet services, while there are still 61 roads with total and partial blockages due to rising rivers.

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, traveled for the second time this Sunday to Rio Grande do Sul to fly over the affected populations and follow up the response to the emergency, for which the Government has deployed a thousand troops in support of the regional executive.

"I am a man who believes very much in God. And I put my team of ministers at the disposal of this journey. I also called the representatives of the other powers. It was necessary to see closely, as we are doing here, to understand the scale of what happened and to help the population of the South," said Lula on X after his visit.