Death toll from rain in southern Brazil rises to 29

Rio de Janeiro (EFE) Has reached. Officials gave this information on Thursday.

The rain, the amount of which over the past three days has been almost four times the average for this period, has affected more than 71,300 people in 154 municipalities this week, according to local civil protection.

“The situation is extremely extraordinary. This is not a serious case, this is the most serious case in the history of the state,” Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said at a news conference, presenting the updated figures.

The death toll will “increase” due to the rains.

The regional president said the number of deaths was “unfortunately going to increase” because “there are inaccessible places”, but he stressed that thousands of people were working by land, water and sea to help with the rescue.

Leight again asked for public cooperation in leaving the at-risk areas due to the impossibility of reaching all affected places immediately.

The storms have not stopped since Monday and this Thursday they broke a dam on the Antas River, although nearby residents had already been evacuated, but there is a danger that the same could happen to five other dams.

A tragedy that forces people to seek refuge in Brazil

So far, the tragedy has forced 10,242 people to take shelter in the homes of relatives or friends, while another 4,645 people are in temporary shelters.

Due to the magnitude of the tragedy, the governor the day before ordered a state of public disaster throughout Rio Grande do Sul for a period of 180 days.

Leite met this Thursday with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who traveled to the region to see firsthand the magnitude of the tragedy and reiterated his support for the government to face the consequences of the storm.

“The federal government will be 100% with the people of Rio Grande do Sul to make resources available to them and so that we can repair the damage,” the President declared, assuring that “help” to meet basic needs. There will be no shortage”. of the population.

The armed forces have deployed eight aircraft, with eight more to be added, and more than 600 troops, a number that could reach 1,500 depending on the development of the storm.

Rio Grande do Sul, with a population of 11 million people, was repeatedly hit by the El Niño climate phenomenon last year, with an extratropical cyclone causing more than 40 deaths in September.