FLOODS IN Brazil’s northeast have left 38 people dead and more than 1,000 missing after rain-swollen rivers burst their banks and left a trail of destruction in 21 towns in the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco.
In the worst-hit state of Alagoas, the floodwaters left 80,000 homeless and 25 towns have been declared in a state of “public calamity”. “There are more than 1,000 people missing in the state,” said civil defence chief Deníldson Queiroz, a number confirmed by the governor.
Five hundred people are missing in União dos Palmares alone. The Mundaú river rose 5m (16½ft) swallowing nearly all the buildings along its banks and destroying the town’s hospital.
"From one hour to the next I lost everything," local resident Nelito Ribeiro de Sousa told the Folha de S. Paulonewspaper. "The water came quickly, destroying one house after another."
In nearby Branquinha, not a single public building is reported to remain standing. The flooding along the Mundaú river also hit the state capital of Maceió. In the suburb of Rio Largo, 30 residents are missing and 15,000 are homeless after the waters swept away 3,000 homes.
Eight of the dead were killed in Recife, capital of Pernambuco. The floodwaters washed tonnes of debris from towns upriver on to Recife’s famous Boa Viagem beach,including furniture, clothing and personal effects.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said helping the victims required a “war effort” and has sent in the army to set up field hospitals and generators. Washed-out roads and tonnes of mud has made reaching some of the affected towns difficult and much of the region is without water and electricity. Firefighters compared the destruction to a tsunami.
The rains over the weekend are the worst to have struck the region in four decades, according to meteorologists. "We have already fled flooding from the Mundaú three times before, but never have we seen anything like this," housewife Maria do Carmo dos Santos told the Estado de S.Paulonewspaper.
“We just had time to grab our documents, a bag of clothes and the kids.” Her home along with those of all her neighbours on Angelita Island in the river’s delta, was destroyed.
This weekend rains in Alagoas and Pernambuco are the latest in a series of devastating floods to strike Brazil this year. In total since the start of Brazil’s rainy season last November, 488 people have been killed by flooding and 7.5 million have been affected in 10 states. That number is now set to rise again as rescuers pull more victims from the towns hit this weekend.
The heavy rains earlier in the year were linked to the El Niño weather pattern by Inmet, said Brazil’s national weather service. The phenomenon sees a warming of a cold water Pacific current off the coast of Peru, upsetting global weather patterns and causing heavy rain across in Brazil.
US authorities say the weakening of El Niño now under way will create ideal storm conditions and is predicting an active hurricane season in the North Atlantic this year.