Brazil: Death toll rises as record flooding continues
At least 56 people have been killed in floods in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul following days of torrential rain, civil defense authorities said on Saturday.
Another 67 people were still missing, authorities said.
What do we know about the flood catastrophe?
Rising waters brought about by heavy rain since Monday have struck more than 265 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, with more than 24,000 people forced to abandon their homes.
Houses and bridges have been damaged and many roads have been rendered unusable by the deluge.
A hydroelectric dam located between the municipality of Cotipora and the city of Bento Goncalves partially burst on Thursday, causing a 2-meter-high (6.6-foot-high) wave that aggravated flood damage in the region.
Image: Diego Vara/REUTERS
More than 2,000 civilian rescue workers and more than 900 soldiers have been deployed to the region to help with rescue efforts.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called the disaster one of the worst floods in the country’s history.
“Never in the history of Brazil has there been so much rain in one place,” the president, commonly known as Lula, said at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the capital, Brasilia.
Climate experts say human-made global warming is driving an increase in such extreme weather events around the world, with the atmosphere currently made even more unstable by the periodic weather system El Nino.