Nearly 70,000 people have been forced from their homes amid deadly flooding, mudslides and torrential storms in southern Brazil, with the major city of Porto Alegre particularly hard-hit, the country’s civil defence agency said yesterday.
In addition to the 69,200 residents forced from their homes, civil defence also said more than a million people lacked access to potable water amid the flooding, describing damage as incalculable.Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said his state — normally one of Brazil’s most prosperous — would need a “Marshall Plan” of heavy investment to rebuild after the catastrophe.
Residential areas were underwater as far as the eye can see, with roads destroyed and bridges swept away by powerful currents.Roughly a third of the displaced have been brought to shelters set up in sports centres, schools and other facilities.