- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Ex-Barcelona and Spain great Iniesta retires aged 40
- Ex-skipper Skelton eyes Wallabies November return
- Spanish great Iniesta leaves indelible legacy after retirement
- Indian Kashmir elects first regional government in a decade
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- September second-warmest on record: EU climate monitor
- Pastor wanted by US for sex trafficking to run for Philippine senate
- Mozambican writer Mia Couto dreams future leaders set an 'example'
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case cleared in separate sex crimes trial
- Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon
- Bangladesh's Yunus says no elections before reforms
- England strike twice as Pakistan reach 397-6 at lunch in first Test
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Kenya's deputy president faces impeachment vote
- N. Korean soldiers 'highly likely' killed in Ukraine: Seoul
- 'Appeals Centre' to referee EU social media disputes
- US Supreme Court to hear 'ghost guns' regulation case
- 'Small' oil leaks detected in Samoa after NZ navy shipwreck
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- At Istanbul church, blessed spring offers hope to Christians and Muslims
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- Myanmar to send rep to regional summit for first time in three years
- Prabowo set to lead bolder Indonesia on world stage
- Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
- New Japan PM to hold talks on ASEAN sidelines
- Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Former South Korea clinic for US 'comfort women' to be demolished
- Chiefs battle past Saints to stay unbeaten
- Deal on climate aid hangs in balance at UN COP29 summit
- Royals hit back against Yankees, Tigers maul Guardians
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
RBGPF | -0.46% | 60.52 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.04% | 24.58 | $ | |
AZN | -0.21% | 76.71 | $ | |
SCS | -0.47% | 12.89 | $ | |
NGG | 0.18% | 65.6 | $ | |
GSK | -1.07% | 38.22 | $ | |
BTI | -0.09% | 35.17 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.1% | 24.815 | $ | |
RIO | -4.66% | 66.52 | $ | |
RELX | 0.8% | 46.41 | $ | |
BP | -3.59% | 31.99 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.15% | 6.87 | $ | |
BCC | 0.39% | 141.82 | $ | |
JRI | 0.11% | 13.195 | $ | |
BCE | -0.6% | 33.33 | $ | |
VOD | -0.42% | 9.649 | $ |
Floods in southern Brazil kill 55, force 70,000 from homes
Raging floods and mudslides have killed at least 55 people in southern Brazil and forced nearly 70,000 to flee their homes, the country's civil defense agency said on Saturday.
At least 74 people were injured and another 67 missing from the catastrophic flooding, civil defense said.
The toll did not include two people who died in an explosion at a flooded gas station in Porto Alegre, witnessed by an AFP journalist, where rescue crews were attempting to refuel.
Fast-rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were straining dams and particularly threatening economically important Porto Alegre, a city of 1.4 million.
The Guaiba River, which flows through the city, is at a historic high of 5.04 meters (16.5 feet), well above the 4.76 meters that had stood as a record since devastating 1941 floods.
Authorities scrambled to evacuate swamped neighborhoods as rescue workers used four-wheel-drive vehicles -- and even jet skis -- to maneuver through waist-deep water in search of the stranded.
In addition to the 69,200 residents forced from their homes, civil defense also said more than a million people lacked access to potable water amid the flooding, describing damage as incalculable.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said his state -- normally one of Brazil's most prosperous -- would need a "Marshall Plan" of heavy investment to rebuild after the catastrophe.
In many places, long lines formed as people tried to board buses, although bus services to and from the city center were canceled.
The Porto Alegre international airport suspended all flights on Friday for an undetermined period.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva posted a video of a helicopter depositing a soldier atop a house, where he used a brick to pound a hole in the roof and rescue a baby wrapped in a blanket.
Joao Guilherme, a 23-year-old salesman, found his way to safety in the state capital -- but without his cell phone.
"I have no communication with anybody, I'm very shaken," he said.
The speed of the rising waters unnerved Greta Bittencourt, 32, a professional poker player.
"It's terrifying because we saw the water rise in an absurd way, it rose at a very high speed," Bittencourt said.
- 'Going to be much worse' -
With waters starting to overtop a dike along another local river, the Gravatai, Mayor Sebastiao Melo issued a stern warning on social media platform X, saying, "Communities must leave!"
He urged people to ration water, after four of the city's six treatment plants had to be closed.
In a live transmission on Instagram, Governor Leite said the situation was "absolutely unprecedented," the worst in the history of the state, home to agroindustrial production of soy, rice, wheat and corn.
Residential areas were underwater as far as the eye could see, with roads destroyed and bridges swept away by powerful currents.
Rescuers faced a colossal task, with entire towns inaccessible.
At least 300 municipalities have suffered storm damage in Rio Grande do Sul since Monday, according to local officials.
- 'Disastrous cocktail' -
Roughly a third of the displaced have been brought to shelters set up in sports centers, schools and other facilities.
The rains also affected the southern state of Santa Catarina, where one man died Friday when his car was swept away by raging floodwaters in the municipality of Ipira.
Lula, who visited the region Thursday, blamed the disaster on climate change.
The devastating storms were the result of a "disastrous cocktail" of global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon, climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino told AFP on Friday.
Aquino said the region's geography meant it was often confronted by the effects of tropical and polar air masses colliding -- but these events have "intensified due to climate change."
A.Silveira--PC