View of a flooded area of the historical center in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, taken on 8 May 2024. (Anselmo Cunha/AFP)
The death toll from heavy rains that swamped Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state in recent days has climbed to 100, local civil defence said on Wednesday, adding that 128 people were still missing.
The storms have caused floods which destroyed bridges and buildings, turning streets into rivers and leaving more than 163 000 displaced in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state bordering Uruguay and Argentina.
Brazil’s national center for natural disasters said on Tuesday that the southern area of the state was under “high risk” of more floods on Wednesday.
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