Flooding ‘worst ever natural calamity’ to hit southern Brazil

Teams in flood-ravaged southern Brazil scrambled to deliver humanitarian aid to Porto Alegre and other inundated municipalities, where queues formed for drinking water and forecasters warned of more downpours.

The worst natural calamity to ever hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul has claimed at least 95 lives, with 372 people reported injured and 131 still missing, according to the civil defence force that handles disaster relief.

“The tolls continue to rise and unfortunately we anticipate that they are still very inaccurate because the emergency is continuing to develop,” said Governor Eduardo Leite.

Nearly 400 municipalities have been hit, including state capital Porto Alegre, with more than 160,000 people forced to leave their homes after record-breaking rainfall transformed the streets into rivers.

Porto Alegre is home to some 1.4 million people and the larger metropolitan area has more than double that number.

The state’s Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, remained at historic high levels on Tuesday, and officials said five dams were at risk of rupturing.

For tens of thousands of people stranded by impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes in Rio Grande do Sul, “the most urgent demand is (drinking) water,” said Sabrina Ribas, a civil defence official.

Helicopters buzzed overhead, delivering water and food to communities most in need, while work continued on restoring road access.

In Alvorada, a municipality east of Porto Alegre, people queued with buckets and plastic bottles, collecting drinking water from the few working taps. Most shops have run out of bottled water. Only two of Porto Alegre’s six water treatment plants were functioning, the mayor’s office said, with hospitals and shelters being supplied by tankers.

The Brazilian Navy said it would send its “Atlantic” vessel - Latin America’s largest - to Rio Grande do Sul on Wednesday with two mobile water treatment stations.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said emergency funds would be freed up to tackle the crisis, vowing there would be “no lack of resources to meet the needs of Rio Grande do Sul.”

Some 15,000 soldiers, firefighters, police and volunteers were hard at work in planes, boats and even jet skis to rescue those trapped or transport aid.

Brazil’s neighbours, Uruguay and Argentina, have sent rescue equipment and trained personnel.

According to weather agency MetSul, the flooding has “changed the map of the metropolitan region” of Porto Alegre.