Floods caused by heavy rains in the state of Bahia (northeastern Brazil) have killed two more people, bringing the number of deaths since early November in the region to 20, with nearly 63,000 people displaced, according to reports. local authorities Monday.
“We are living through the worst disaster in Bahia’s history,” said Governor Rui Costa, who since Saturday has been overseeing a joint operation in the affected areas with the federal government and other states.
“It’s a gigantic tragedy. I do not remember anything of this dimension in the recent history of Bahia. The number of houses, streets and towns completely underwater is truly terrifying, ”he said after flying over the disaster areas.
Southern Bahia had already been devastated by torrential rains in late November, and rainfall again intensified from Thursday, causing dike ruptures and flooding in recent days.
Two new deaths were recorded in the town of Itabuna. A 21-year-old man was swept away by the current and a 33-year-old woman was killed in a landslide, according to the latest local government report on Monday afternoon.
The number of displaced people has almost doubled since Sunday. There are a total of 62,796 people who have had to leave their homes, according to the Civil Protection of Bahia.
In total, some 116 municipalities, including at least 100 in emergency situations, and 471,009 people have been affected by the torrential rains and since November, some 358 people have been injured.
“The water is starting to decline at the source of the Cachoeira River and, although slowly, it is expected to improve in the days to come,” said the governor.
Houses were swallowed up and streets turned into rivers in several municipalities in the south of the state, affected since Thursday by heavy rainfall that caused dams to burst and rivers overflowed over the weekend.
In Itapetinga, AFP aerial footage shows three men paddling face down on a straw mattress in a street, whose houses have water up to the windows.
In this totally inundated town, Idalicio dos Santos was trying to make his way through the brownish waters aboard a small inflatable boat.
“I have already made twenty trips to bring people”, says this inhabitant.
In Itambé, a small neighboring town, Tiola Almeida was helping her mother save some objects.
“In some houses, the water has risen up to 1.80 m. In my mother’s, at 1.40 m, ”he explains.
The equivalent of a month of rain fell in a few hours in some municipalities.
Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, received up to five times the historical average of 58 mm for the month of December on Friday, according to the city’s civil defense.
“There is a correlation” between the intensity of the rains in the northeast of the country and the climatic phenomenon La Niña, which causes more than normal precipitation, estimated Estael Sias, meteorologist at the MetSul forecasting company.