Brazil Flood Crisis: The government of Brazil declared an “emergency expenditure” on Monday, as the death count from the most severe flooding in many decades increased to 143. The floods in Brazil have forced over 538,000 people to relocate and left 81,000 without homes, in a populace of roughly 10.9 million, as per the reports by Reuters news agency. Local civil defense authorities from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul reported that the fatalities have escalated to 143, with 125 individuals still missing.
The weather prediction agency, Metsul, has described the current conditions as “extremely worrying” due to the relentless rainfall. The showers persisted throughout Sunday and are anticipated to continue throughout the week. Information released by the government indicates that the heavy downpours since Friday have led to the rapid escalation in water levels of four rivers located west of the state capital, Porto Alegre.
On Saturday, inhabitants of the Mucum region managed to start a bit of the cleaning process. However, as the rain continued to pour heavily, the work had to be paused.
In a conversation with Reuters, Mateus Trojan, who is the mayor of Mucum revealed, “We are in the process of evacuating individuals from danger-prone zones. We are anticipating another major flood event.”
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has issued a formal statement stating, “The bond that unites Brazil is Rio Grande do Sul. The Federal Government is leaving no stone unturned in its mission to preserve lives and aid in rebuilding the state. An operational task force is already on ground to provide necessary resources to the victims and look after the families in Rio Grande do Sul.”
Brazil’s government has declared an “emergency expenditure” of 12.1 billion reais, with over 60 billion reais in national funds previously approved for reconstruction and recovery efforts.
