Deaths from the biggest climate tragedy in southern Brazil increase to 56 and homeless people rise to 32,900 – Cm ao Minuto

• Photo: Reuters

Floods in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

The provisional number of people killed in what is already considered the biggest climate tragedy ever in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of the country, increased this Saturday, May 4, to 56. The tragic figure was released by Local Civil Protection on Saturday morning, in the latest assessment of the floods caused by the torrential rain that has hit the state uninterruptedly since last Monday.

The number of fatalities confirmed until this Saturday already exceeds the deaths recorded in September last year in the Vale do Rio Taquari region, in the center of the state, when 54 people lost their lives during the passage of an extratropical cyclone, in what even now it was the biggest climate tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul. From Friday night to Saturday morning, the advance on the ground by rescue teams fighting desperately against the weather and climatic adversities located another 17 bodies, exceeding the maximum registered last year.

According to the same partial report from Civil Protection of Rio Grande do Sul, hundreds of people were injured in some less serious way across the state, but 74 had to be hospitalized. At least another 67 people are still missing, but all these numbers are provisional, since there are still completely isolated municipalities, where it was not even possible to reach by helicopter, as the rain is so intense in some areas of the state that flights are not allowed.

Likewise, the number of inhabitants who are without a home has also risen over the last few hours. In Friday’s balance, the number of people displaced was 24,200, but on Saturday morning the number had already jumped to 32,900 people.

Unlike what happened with the cyclone in September last year, which mainly affected the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, the rains and floods are now hitting the entire state and causing devastation never seen before. The state capital, the elegant city of Porto Alegre, with a very strong presence of descendants of Germans and Portuguese, is practically submerged, as the normally calm Guaíba River overflowed so violently that in the neighborhoods around its riverbed the water it is already two meters high, flooding streets and houses, the power had to be turned off, and the local mayor has already warned that if the waters continue to rise, part of the population of 1.3 million people will have to be evacuated.