CAPELA DE SANTANA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has visited the country’s south where floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains have killed twenty-nine people, with the toll likely to rise.
Officials in Rio Grande do Sul have declared a state of emergency as rescue workers continued to search for dozens of citizens reported missing among the ruins of collapsed bridges, roads, and homes, AFP reported.
Storm has affected about 150 municipalities in the state, also wounding at least a dozen people and displacing close to 10,000.
Governor Eduardo Leite said that the state was dealing with the worst disaster in its history. The president arrived in the town of Santa Maria in the morning with a delegation of ministers and held a working meeting with Leite and other authorities to coordinate rescue efforts, the officials said.
Lula promised that there will be no lack of human or material resources to minimize the suffering this disaster is causing in the state. He added that the federal government will be 100 percent at the disposition of state officials.
Rescue Work in Brazil
Central authorities have already made available twelve aircraft, forty-five vehicles and twelve boats as well as 626 soldiers to help clear roads, distribute food, water and mattresses, and set up shelters.
As the rains continued, forecasts said the main Guaiba River in the state, which has already overflowed its banks in some areas, would reach an extraordinary level of 3 meters by Thursday and 4 meters the next day.
