Brazil flood death toll rises to 58

The death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by torrential storms in southern Brazil has climbed to 58 people, with the major city of Porto Alegre particularly hard-hit, the country’s civil defence agency said yesterday.The deaths included two people who died in an explosion at a flooded gas station in Porto Alegre where rescue crews were attempting to refuel, said an AFP journalist who witnessed the blast.Overall, raging floodwaters have left 74 people injured and another 67 missing, the civil defence agency said. Fast-rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were straining dams and particularly threatening economically important Porto Alegre, a city of 1.4 million.The Guaiba River, which flows through the city, is at a historic high — at 5.04 metres (16.5 feet), well above the 4.76 metres that had stood as a record since the devastating floods of 1941. Authorities were scrambling to evacuate swamped neighbourhoods. “Despite the unfavourable weather, rescue actions are taking place day and night,” a government statement said.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva posted a video of a helicopter depositing a soldier atop a house, where he used a brick to pound a hole in the roof and rescue a baby wrapped in a blanket. In a northern Porto Alegre suburb, 61-year-old Jose Augusto Moraes looked shaken after fast-rising floodwaters engulfed his house and he had to call firefighters to rescue a trapped child.“I lost everything,” he told AFP.With waters starting to overtop a dike along another local river, the Gravatai, Mayor Sebastiao Malo issued a stern warning on social media platform X, saying, “Communities must leave!”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/681827/international/brazil-flood-death-toll-rises-to-58