#dead #missing #flooding #southern #Brazil #due #torrential #rains
In addition to the deceased, hThere are 12 injured and 21 missingwithin the framework of the floods that have already affected more than 44,600 people in 134 municipalities in the last week, according to the local Civil Defense.
So far, 5,257 people have had to take refuge in the homes of relatives or friends and 3,079 are in shelters.
The regional government warned about a “extreme hydrological risk” for the next 24 hours in a good part of the state and recommended that residents avoid the vicinity of rivers, whose flow continues to rise due to the rains, and seek refuge in a safe place.
The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leitedecreed on Wednesday night a state of public calamity for a period of 180 days.
“The state aircraft are in action to carry out rescues and we are waiting for reinforcements from the Armed Forces,” the governor stated in a video uploaded on social networks, who said that the priority at this time is to rescue the affected people.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is scheduled to visit the region this Thursday, a day after promising Leite by phone “all the necessary personnel” to help face the consequences of the storm.
Brazil
Rio Grande do Sul, with a population of 11 million people, has suffered in the last year the repeated blow of the El Niño climate phenomenon, which causes heavy rainfall in the south of the country.
In September, an extratropical cyclone caused more than 40 deaths in the region, and in November a spell of torrential rains led to the displacement of thousands of people.
Brazil
Brazil
)
