EBN- The death toll in Brazil from heavy rains rose to 29, with search operations continuing for 60 people reported missing.
The rains, which have been affecting the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul for several days, have resulted in loss of life and property.
Rio Grande do Sul’s civil defense department reported that the heavy rains inflicted significant damage on 154 towns, adversely affecting 71,300 people.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite in a press conference emphasized that there are still areas they cannot reach.
Leite highlighted the possibility of the death toll increasing and noted that search and rescue operations are being carried out by land, sea and air.
He declared a “state of disaster” for 180 days due to the magnitude of the tragedy and said that efforts continue to evacuate people from the disaster area.
Rio Grande do Sul has been increasingly hit by extreme weather events in recent years. More than 30 people died in the state in September after heavy rains.
The climate crisis, caused primarily by humans burning fossil fuels across Brazil, is supercharging extreme weather around the world, making many events more intense and more frequent.
In the past few weeks alone, record rainfall has triggered deadly floods and brought chaos to the desert city of Dubai; reservoirs across Southeast Asia have been drying up in a persistent regional heatwave and ongoing drought, while Kenya is battling floods and heavy rainfall that has burst river banks and killed nearly 200 people.
