Houses under water, roads completely flooded, people on roofs waiting for rescue and others in shelters clinging to life because they lost everything, is the panorama that is experienced in the south of Brazil, due to the strong storms that have hit the region since this Monday, leaving at least 40 dead and 68 missingaccording to the latest report from the authorities released this Friday.

Rio Grande do Sul, a state bordering Uruguay and Argentina, is the most impacted region with 39 deaths, but the scourge of the rains is also beginning to be felt in the neighboring state of Santa Catarina, which has already reported the first fatality and where 33 cities have been affected.

According to the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, tens of thousands of people were evacuated. The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, said in a press conference that “numbers can change substantially“, as rescue forces have access to localities that remain isolated.

In total, there are already 265 municipalities affected, more than half of those that make up the state, including the regional capital, Porto Alegre, whose historic center was completely flooded after the Guaíba River overflowed, reaching its highest level in eight decades.

A day after visiting the affected region, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stated that this was “one of the largest floods” of which he was aware and repeated that the Government was not going to spare resources to address the tragedy. . The Armed Forces have deployed 936 soldiersas well as nine aircraft, 98 boats and 70 vehicles to help in the rescue efforts, which are added to the 2,000 personnel of the regional rescue forces.

And the situation could get worse. The National Institute of Meteorology of Brazil (Inmet) issued this Friday a red alert for heavy rains and the probability of flooding of large proportions in the region of the upper Uruguay channel, on the border with the Argentine province of Misiones. Rain volumes greater than 60 millimeters are expected until local noon on Saturday, potentially reaching a maximum of 100 millimeters in some parts of the Uruguay Valley.

The authorities also warned that the water of the Guaibá River will continue to rise in the coming hours, which may cause new flooding in the metropolitan area of ​​Porto Alegre. The weather situation also led the Porto Alegre international airport to cancel operations until further notice.