Steph Deschamps / May 10, 2024
One hundred people have died and 128 are missing after unprecedented flooding caused by torrential rains in southern Brazil, according to the latest toll published Wednesday by the Civil Defense.
The previous toll was 95 dead and 131 missing in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, hit throughout last week by exceptionally violent storms.
Some 850,000 inhabitants of 340 towns in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were affected, and a state of emergency was declared in most of them. In the regional capital Porto Alegre, Lake Guaíba, where several rivers converge, reached its highest water level since 1941, at 5.28 meters, local media reported.
In the space of ten days, the state, which borders Argentina and Uruguay, received as much precipitation as is normal in three months.