Massive flooding in southern Brazil has claimed at least 85 lives
Kyiv • UNN
A massive flood caused by heavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has killed at least 85 people, forced about 150,000 people to evacuate their homes and left hundreds of towns underwater.
Heavy rains that have caused massive flooding in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have left hundreds of towns under water. According to officials, at least 85 people were killed and about 150,000 were forced to leave their homes as a result of the floods, UNN reports with reference to the BBC.
Details
Some towns remain isolated, and hopes of finding more than 130 people who have gone missing are fading.
Further downpours forecast for this week are expected to further aggravate the situation in the region.
Many residents had to leave their homes, and some of the most vulnerable people were evacuated by rescuers.
The Association of Brazilian Airlines said on Tuesday that the airport in Porto Alegre will be closed until at least the end of the month after the Guaiba River overflowed its banks and flooded the runway and key buildings.
According to local officials, the river reached a record high of 5.3 meters. The previous record was set in 1941 and was 4.76 meters.
The airport is not the only large building that had to be closed in Porto Alegre, a city of about 1.5 million people. The field of the Arena do Gremio stadium is also covered in brown mud.
The situation in some areas around the city of Porto Alegre is even worse. Canoas is one of the areas that has been severely affected.
AddendumAddendum
The extreme weather was caused by a rare combination of above-average temperatures, high humidity and strong winds.
Climate expert Francisco Eliseu Aquino told the AFP news agency that Rio Grande do Sul has always been a meeting point for tropical and polar air masses, but noted that "these interactions have intensified with climate change.
