NOS News•today, 03:04
At least 29 people have been killed by heavy rainfall and flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Sixty people are missing, the southern state’s security services say. 10,000 people have been evacuated from the flooded area.
The area has been suffering from heavy rain and flooding since Monday. Earlier this week the death toll was thirteen and 21 missing. President Lula has traveled to the area for an emergency meeting with state Governor Leite. “Everything within the reach of our government will be done to meet the needs of the people affected by this rain,” Lula reports on X.
These are images of the flooding:
Evacuations, deaths and missing due to severe weather in Brazil
On X, Leite calls the storm “the worst climate disaster our state has ever had to deal with.” Power outages have also been reported across the state. At least 300,000 people are without electricity due to a dam rupture. Several roads have been flooded and bridges have collapsed. There have also been landslides and rivers overflowing their banks.
The severe weather is expected to continue today. In some areas, more than 150 millimeters of rain fell in 24 hours, Brazil’s meteorological institute INMET said.
El Nino
The severe weather in Brazil is the result of the periodic climate phenomenon El Niño. This phenomenon causes the water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator to warm up. Historically, this has led to drought in the north of Brazil and heavy rainfall in the south.
The consequences of El Niño were dramatic in Brazil this year. It led to a massive drought in the Amazon region. But scientists also say that extreme weather is becoming more common due to human-induced climate change.
