Environment

Brazil Flood Death toll rises to 65, 17 missing

by jjenet | November 25, 2008 at 04:27 am

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Due to heavy rainfall that started on Friday in Brazil have under watered 80% of the towns. Roads blocked into four towns where people had no electricity. Federal officials offered cargo planes to help fly supplies to the devastated regions.

Eight cities are completely isolated because of the heavy rain over the weekend that caused rivers to overflow. Also 17 highways are blocked by mudslides. Authorities say the flood has affected 1.5 million people, and nearly 30,000 were forced to leave their homes.

Most of people died in mudslides due to swept away homes and businesses, and officials from Santa Catarina state fear more mudslides may happen because the earth is still saturated with water.

Officials said Floods and landslides in southern Brazil have killed 45 people and driven 22,000 from their homes and ruptured a major gas line from Bolivia, cutting off supplies to the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

Parts of Santa Catarina are accessible only by boat

Rescue efforts are being stepped up in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, where floods have left 65 people dead and some 43,000 homeless.

The federal government and other states are sending aid, including helicopters to reach stranded residents.

The heavy rainfall of recent days also caused landslides that have destroyed homes and blocked roads in the region.

Eight towns have been cut off by the flood waters while more than 160,000 people are without electricity.

Heavy rains have affected large parts of southern Brazil but Santa Catarina has borne the brunt of the bad weather.
Detailed map of the region

Eight towns have been completely cut off, while transport throughout the state has been paralysed with roads blocked by mud and water.

Emergency workers have been using helicopters and boats to try to reach those left stranded.

Civil defence officials said that, of the people known to have died, 13 were in the town of Blumenau, while another 15 deaths were reported in Ilhota.

A state of emergency has been declared in Santa Catarina and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has offered federal help.

"Almost all the deaths were caused by landslides that left people buried in their own homes," said Santa Catarina Governor Luiz Henrique da Silveira.

In total more than a million people are said to have been affected by the flooding.

The floods have also caused part of a pipeline carrying natural gas from Bolivia to Brazil to be shut, cutting supplies to Santa Catarina and the neighbouring state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Still the death toll from floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains in southern Brazil has risen to 65 people, with 17 still missing, civil defense authorities said Tuesday.

Rescue efforts were focusing on the Itajai River valley, where waters were 9 meters (30 feet) above normal.

An emergency situation has been declared in the worst-affected states and the government was providing 280 million dollars in aid.

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