Floods
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At least 85 people died in unprecedented floods, with federal and local authorities struggling to manage the consequences.
All night on Saturday, May 4, Herbert Poersch, a resident of Canoas, a town in Rio Grande do Sul, was tormented by the cries of children escaping from the roofs of houses, the last refuge of a population trapped by the floods which hit for more than a week this southern state of Brazil. “I do not want to die”, hears them sobbing this father, who himself has found refuge on the roof of his home, with his wife and two boys. And when an intrepid one emerges gaucho (name given to the inhabitants of the region), who got on his jet-ski to lend a hand to the overwhelmed emergency services, “we had to decide which of our children to save first”, says, still dismayed, Herbert Poersch to the online media UOL, since the aquatic racing car only has one passenger seat.
Between April 29 and May 4, the torrential rains which fell on this prosperous Brazilian state of 11.3 million inhabitants, bordering Argentina and Uruguay, already represented half the volume of expected precipitation. for the whole year. Tuesday,
