Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Deadly heavy rains drench southern Brazil
by Staff Writers
Brasilia (AFP) Sept 9, 2011
Torrential rains that caused record flooding in southern Brazil
reportedly killed three people and force more than 63,000
residents to evacuate their homes, officials said Friday.
Three days of continuous downpours have had a severe impact in
southern Santa Catarina state, with authorities declaring 32
cities in a state of emergency, and two -- Brusque and Rio do Sul
in a state of public calamity.
Some towns were almost entirely under water as the Itajai-Acu
river rose to record levels.
The Civil Defense agency said the flooding had affected nearly
790,000 people in 60 municipalities, and warned of a risk of
landslides after rains left the ground waterlogged.
At 2100 GMT Friday Santa Catarina state Civil Defense officials
said that at least one person had died. Local news reports however
said that three people had been killed.
Due to the emergency classes were suspended in the cities of
Blumenau, Gaspar, Itajai and Rio do Sul. Some of the schools were
turned into temporary shelters.
Three years ago 150 people were killed in massive flooding in
southern Brazil.
The water levels were in marked contrast to the severe drought and
forest fires in central-west regions of the South American
country.
Much of Brasilia was experiencing heavy smoke levels due to
wildfires sparked by high temperatures and unusually long spells
without rain -- at this point around three months around the
federal capital.
"We have not had such a low level of humidity (in Brasilia) since
1960," a regional Civil Defense official told AFP.
Over the past 24 hours alone "there have been 50 fires, and we
have 500 firefighters working," Major Mauro Sergio of the Brasilia
firefighters told AFP.
Smoke was so heavy over parts of the capital that some schools
were forced to close early.
"I've been living in Brasilia for 40 years, and I've never seen
anything like this," long-time resident Edson Barroso told AFP.