MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Floods in southeastern Brazil leave at least 25 dead

Tragedies like these “intensify with climate change,” Lula explained

Brazilian authorities reported Sunday that at least 25 people had been killed due to heavy rains affecting mostly Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo during the weekend.

According to Espirito Santo Governor Renato Casagrande, the situation in Mimoso do Sul, a town of almost 25,000 people, is “chaotic” as relief teams kept trying to reach intricate areas.

The heavy storms that started late Friday took 8 lives in the State of Rio de Janeiro, mostly from landslides in mountainous areas, four of them in Petrópolis, which is still recovering from a storm that killed 241 in February 2022.

In a message on social media, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims. Tragedies like these “intensify with climate change,” he also pointed out.

The death toll in Espirito Santo rose to 17 on Sunday afternoon. “There are bodies being rescued” in Mimoso do Sul, Casagrande explained while speaking of “warlike” scenarios in municipalities such as Bom Jesus do Norte or Apiacá.

“The good news is that it stopped raining and allows us to start thinking about cleaning and rebuilding the city,” Casagrande added.

The heavy rains in southeastern Brazil are explained by the arrival of a cold front following a wave of extreme heat. This phenomenon impacted Rio Grande do Sul (south) and advanced towards Sao Paulo and Rio, before reaching Espirito Santo, according to reports from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet).