Torrential rains and floods hitting southern Brazil have further worsened the toll, with at least one hundred dead and 130 missing.
Relief operations in Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul, have been halted due to more rain.
Balancing on a roof, as if on a makeshift raft, a horse observes the neighborhood around him, almost entirely underwater. The planes, too, are trapped, as we see in the video at the top of this article. At Porto Alegre airport, the runways have literally disappeared under water, while the nearby stadium only resembles a pool of mud.
We eat very little, we lack food
A resident of Porto Alegre
All day this Wednesday, evacuations by jet-ski or by force of arms in the city center, in the nauseating odor of stagnant water. “I must admit that I am exhausted. We sleep and eat very little, we lack food”, confides a resident. No more drinking water, the authorities fear the spread of diseases in these neighborhoods. In total, 160,000 people fled the flooded areas. There is no more room in emergency centers, so residents of a neighboring favela aim for high points, even if it means sleeping on footbridges or on the highway.
The rain begins to fall again, and rescue operations have to stop, having become too dangerous with the rising water. The authorities have already counted at least a hundred dead, 130 missing, and hundreds injured since the start of the floods in southern Brazil.
