At Least 78 Dead, Over 100 Missing, Dozens Stranded In Devastating Brazil Floods And Mudslides
In the southern reaches of Brazil, officials worked tirelessly on Sunday to extract individuals from surging floods and mudflows, confronting what is now deemed the area's most extensive climate catastrophe on record.
The disaster has claimed a minimum of 78 lives, compelling 115,000 individuals to evacuate their residences.
Whole urban centers found themselves submerged, with numerous individuals isolated from civilization due to the deluge, stemming from incessant rainfall over several days.
Within Porto Alegre, the primary city of Rio Grande do Sul, inhabitants sought refuge atop their rooftops while others maneuvered through waterlogged streets using canoes or small vessels.
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Following what a meteorologist described as "a calamitous mix" of climate variations and the influence of El Niño, over 3,000 military personnel, firefighters, and other emergency responders endeavored to reach citizens, many of whom were trapped without running water or electricity. Authorities from civil defense reported a minimum of 105 individuals as unaccounted.
"It looks like a scene out of a war, and after it is over it will require a post-war approach," said Eduardo Leite, Governor of Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil President Luiz Lula da Silva pledged that the administration would allocate ample resources for the rebuilding efforts. Apart from Porto Alegre, an additional 341 municipalities and rural areas have borne the brunt of the deluge.
Military personnel are establishing makeshift medical facilities following the evacuation of hundreds of patients from conventional hospitals.
"Everyone helps in their own way, as they can," said 32-year-old Luis Eduardo da Silva who volunteered with rescue efforts.
The Guaiba River, coursing through the city of 1.4 million inhabitants, surged to an unprecedented height of 5.3 meters (17.4 feet), as reported by the local authorities, surpassing the previous record of 4.76 meters set during the catastrophic floods of 1941.
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"Rio Grande do Sul has always been a meeting point between tropical and polar air masses," climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino shared with AFP. "But these interactions intensified with climate change" to create "a disastrous cocktail that makes the atmosphere more unstable and encourages storms."
Rosana Custodio, a 37-year-old nurse, evacuated her inundated residence in Porto Alegre alongside her husband and three children.
"During the night on Thursday the waters began to rise very quickly," she told AFP in a WhatsApp correspondence. "In a hurry, we went out to look for a safer place. But we couldn't walk... My husband put our two little ones in a kayak and rowed with bamboo. My son and I swam to the end of the street." Her family was safe, but "we've lost everything we had."
