Rio de Janeiro: At least 10 people were killed in floods triggered by heavy rains in southern Brazil, officials said Wednesday, as rescuers searched for at least two people reported missing.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Mayor Eduardo Leith would visit the region facing “the worst disaster in the history of our country”.
Leite said efforts to find the missing are still underway as more rain is forecast.
He asked for help in the form of men “prepared for chaos and war.”
The incessant rain destroyed bridges and blocked roads, leaving several communities across the country shut down.
“We lost everything, everything, all the food, everything in our house,” Adriana Salete Gas from Santa Cruz do Sul told local media.
“Our two-meter-high house is still flooded.”
Authorities urged people to evacuate areas along state highways and those living near rivers or on hills because of the risk of landslides.
Since Tuesday, rescuers and soldiers have been trying to free families trapped in their homes, many clinging to rooftops to escape the rising water.
Deputy Governor Gabriel Souza said the damage was about $20 million.
Officials said at least 11 people were injured and about 20,000 others were affected by the floods.
Bad weather hampered rescue efforts, often in difficult areas, and the death toll continued to rise from the five first reported on Tuesday.
Lula wrote in X that he will visit the region on Thursday “to check the situation”.
The president had earlier announced that the federal government was sending aid to combat the disaster, which he said was a result of climate change.
Tens of thousands of people in Rio Grande do Sul are without drinking water, and phone and internet service is down in at least 60 municipalities, officials said.
AFPTV said residents of the small town of Encantado set off on foot or by motorbike to reach dry land.
About 100 km (62 mi) away, the town of Sinimbu was flooded, the streets turned into rivers.
Mayor Sandra Backes said the city was without internet, water and electricity, describing the situation as “nightmare”.
“Sinimbu is like a war zone, it was completely destroyed… Shops, businesses, supermarkets were all destroyed,” he said.
In Santa Cruz do Sul, rescuers used boats to ferry residents, many of them children, to safety.
Rivers in the region had swollen from previous storms, and heavy rains in late March killed at least 25 people in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo.
According to experts, the largest country in South America has been hit by extreme weather events in recent times.
The flood was followed by a cold front against the south and southeast following an extreme heat wave.
