Brazil faced more heavy rain on Thursday in the south of the country. Strong winds and possible hailstorms three days after the devastating typhoon left at least 41 dead and 25 missing.
The government of Rio Grande do Sul, south of Brazil’s 27 states, has announced that it expects unstable weather in the coming hours as ‘a cold front’ approaches. A cyclone passed through the region early Monday, bringing heavy rain and violent winds, destroying buildings and flooding towns.
Nearly a thousand rescuers and about ten helicopters were deployed as part of the rescue operations, which became complicated Thursday after two bridges were destroyed and at least 16 roads were partially or totally blocked.
Many areas are under water
Many areas were submerged. By Thursday evening, the official death toll had risen to 41 and 25 people were still missing, with a total of more than 122,000 people affected.
Eduardo Leite, the governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, visited the hardest-hit municipality of Muçum, with at least 15 deaths, to offer condolences to residents. “We will rebuild this city faster than many people think,” he wrote on social network X (formerly Twitter).
‘Everything fell apart’
In Roga Sale, people tell of a flood that swept away everything in its path. ‘Everything collapsed. I have never seen anything like it here. It was crazy,’ a disgruntled Nelson Noll told AFP, pointing to vacant lots where houses once stood.
‘It’s not a flood, it’s a tsunami, a cyclone, it came here and took everything away, and there’s nothing left,’ laments the 75-year-old resident. Eduardo Machado, 56, grieves ‘a tragedy’. ‘I don’t know when we will recover. Only God knows’, he appeals.
Brazil experiences frequent extreme events, and scientists link them to the effects of climate change.
In June, a tornado killed at least thirteen people in the same Rio Grande do Sul state. Last February, 65 people were killed in a landslide triggered by unprecedented rains that hit the resort town of Sao Sebastiano, 200 km from Sao Paulo in the country’s southeast.
/ats
“Avid gamer. Social media geek. Proud troublemaker. Thinker. Travel fan. Problem solver.”