(Lajeado) Water has begun to recede in parts of flood-devastated southern Brazil, revealing the extent of the damage in the region, which will receive more than $1 billion in aid announced Tuesday by the bank emerging countries, the BRICS.
The unprecedented climatic disaster in the state of Rio Grande do Sul has left at least 149 dead, while 124 people are missing, according to the latest report published Tuesday evening by Civil Defense.
More than 615,000 people were evacuated from their homes, according to the same source.
The funds released by the BRICS development bank (acronym for emerging powers around Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be used to “rebuild urban and rural infrastructure” and to “help” the victims, said the head of the institution, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, in a video broadcast on X.
These floods, caused by torrential rains which caused rivers to overflow, constitute the worst environmental disaster in the history of the state, which will have to rebuild a large part of its infrastructure.
Inland, in the localities of Lajeado and Cruzeiro do Sul, an AFP team noted extensive damage.
Destroyed houses where sometimes only a section of wall remains, streets invaded by debris and mud, wrecks of cars buried under branches carried by water: the scenes of desolation repeat themselves.
“Let’s get out of here before something worse happens,” says Silvio Kehl, a 40-year-old resident of Cruzeiro do Sul, recounting that his four-month-old baby has already experienced three floods since conception.
“We worked for 30 years, we fought, and now we have lost everything,” breathes Nelson Xavier, 61, owner of a concrete factory in the city.
The chaos worsened after new overflows due to heavy rains in recent days. The Guaiba River, which borders the regional capital Porto Alegre, has returned to historic levels and reached 5.21 meters on Tuesday, and its flood could continue. The first overflows occur from three meters.
According to the Brazilian Meteorological Institute, forecasts for the rest of the week predict a sharp drop in temperatures in Brazil’s southernmost state.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose government has promised 50 billion reais ($13.29 billion Canadian) in aid, will visit the disaster zone for the third time on Wednesday.