2023-09-05 20:38:40
– 21 dead following the passage of a cyclone in the south of Brazil
21 people have died in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil, hit by a cyclone on Tuesday.
Published: 05.09.2023, 22:38
In June, another cyclone killed 16 people in the same state on the border with Uruguay and Argentina. (Pretext image)
AFP
Brazil has once once more been hit by an extreme weather event, with a cyclone that killed 21 people in the south of the country, where torrential rains have caused landslides and terrible floods in the past 24 hours.
“Unfortunately, I have received information that 15 bodies have been found in the municipality of Muçum, which brings the death toll to 21,” Rio Grande do Sul state governor Eduardo Leite said on Tuesday. at a press conference. This cyclone, which began to hit this border region with Uruguay and Argentina on Monday, caused “the worst toll for a climatic event in Rio Grande do Sul”, he added.
In June, another cyclone killed 16 people in the same state. The governor said that several dozen firefighters had been mobilized and that “several hundred people” had been rescued. Helicopters were used to evacuate isolated residents, with some roads completely unusable due to flooding.
More than 50,000 people from around 60 towns have been affected and more than 3,700 of them have had to leave their homes, according to the latest report from local authorities. According to Wolnei Wollf Barreiros, Secretary of Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, more than 300 millimeters of rain have fallen in this state in the past 24 hours.
Deadly flood
According to the local news site GZH, the flooding of the Taquari River covered more than 85% of the territory of Muçum, a small town of 5,000 inhabitants where 15 bodies were found, and some people had to be rescued from the roof. of their homes. “There are still missing, the toll might increase,” said Mayor Mateus Trojan at the microphone of Radio Gaucha.
“The city of Muçum as we know it no longer exists,” he lamented. In the municipality of Ibiraiaras, a couple died when their car was swept away by the current when they were crossing a bridge. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his “solidarity” with the victims and assured that the federal government “is ready to come to the aid” of Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil has been hit in recent years by deadly weather, whose links to climate change are not ruled out by experts. The effects are all the more devastating in a context of uncontrolled urbanization, with many poor populations living in precarious housing on the hillside.
At least 65 people died in February in floods and landslides caused by torrential rains in the state of São Paulo (southeast). Around 9.5 million of Brazil’s 203 million inhabitants live in areas at risk of flooding or landslides.
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