An extratropical cyclone has been battering southern Brazil, flooding properties, swelling rivers and claiming the lives of almost two dozen individuals, state authorities mentioned on Tuesday.
Luana da Luz is amongst a whole lot of Brazilians who’ve packed up their belongings in an effort to flee the rising waters.
“Since dawn, we saw that (the water) was going to flood (our house) and we were putting things on top of the table, on top of the wood stove, but it didn’t help,” mentioned Da Luz, a resident of the city of Passo Fundo within the southern state of Rio Grande Sul, the place state authorities have confirmed the deaths of 21 individuals.
An further sufferer was confirmed within the neighboring state of Santa Catarina, in line with native authorities.
Video obtained by Reuters confirmed homes in Mucum submerged by rising water, whereas streets and rivers had been additionally flooded.
Dozens of properties had their roofs broken by a hailstorm and a whole lot of persons are with out contact in Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil’s federal authorities has introduced some measures to answer the catastrophe, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised his authorities would do no matter is important to “save people from these problems.”
“I feel devastated. I lost everything,” mentioned Dice Reginatto, from the town of Nova Bassano in Rio Grande do Sul. “There are many people who lost much more, but here at home I have nothing left.”
