RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Massive flooding in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul killed at least 60 people and reported another 101 missing, local authorities said Sunday.
At least 155 people were injured while the rains forced more than 80,000 people from their homes. About 15,000 people sought refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other emergency shelters.
The floods left a trail of devastation, including landslides, flooded roads and collapsed bridges across the state. Operators reported power and communications outages. More than 800,000 people are without water supplies, the civil protection authority said, citing figures from the water company Corsan.
On Saturday evening, residents of the town of Canoas stood up to their shoulders in muddy water and formed a human chain to pull boats that carried people to safety, according to video footage shared by local news station UOL.
The Guaiba River reached a record level of 5.33 meters (17.5 feet) at 8 a.m. local time on Sunday morning, surpassing levels during a historic flood in 1941 when the river reached 4.76 meters.
“I repeat and insist: the devastation we are facing is unprecedented,” state Governor Eduardo Leite said Sunday morning. He had previously said that the state needed “some kind of ‘Marshall Plan’ for reconstruction.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived in Rio Grande do Sul on Sunday, accompanied by Defense Minister José Múcio, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and Environment Minister Marina Silva, among others.
During Sunday Mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was praying for the people of the state. “May the Lord welcome the dead and comfort their families and those who have had to leave their homes,” he said.
The downpour began on Monday and was expected to continue until Sunday. Some areas such as valleys, mountain slopes and cities received more than 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) of rain in less than a week on Thursday, Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology, known by its Portuguese acronym INMET, said.
The heavy rains were the fourth such environmental disaster in a year, following floods in July, September and November 2023 that killed a total of 75 people.
Weather across South America is influenced by the El Niño climate phenomenon, a periodic, naturally occurring event that warms surface waters in the equatorial Pacific region. In Brazil, El Niño has previously caused droughts in the north and heavy rains in the south.
This year the impact of El Niño has been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon. Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change.