At least 20 dead from heavy rains in northeastern Brazil

The heavy rains that have hit northeastern Brazil since the end of November have left at least 20 dead and three hundred injured, in addition to more than 35,000 victims only in the state of Bahia, as reported this Monday by regional authorities.

The Government of Bahia, with data from the local Superintendency of Protection and Civil Defense, indicated that more than 35,000 people have lost their homes or have been forced to move from their places of origin and seek refuge in temporary accommodation.

The most affected city has been the tourist Ilheus, on the southern coast of Bahia, which concentrates most of the 430,869 people who have been affected in one way or anothers, not only because of the destruction of houses and businesses, but also because of their isolation, unable to move or receive food and medicine.

In Bahia, 72 municipalities declared themselves in a state of emergency due to the rains, which during extremely hot summer days usually appear at the end of the afternoon with electrical storms and despite being fast and fleeting, their intensity and force cause greater damage than those of the winter.

Of the 72 cities in a state of emergency, 58 of them are also in a “crisis situation” due to supply and access difficulties.

In the neighboring state of Pernambuco, the most affected city is Petrolina.

The federal government and local authorities have had to use, in addition to helicopters, boats to rescue people who have been isolated, including a 102-year-old woman in the municipality of Itabauna, in Bahia.

The last three fatalities have been registered in the last hours: a 60-year-old man, who drowned on Sunday; a 33-year-old woman whose house collapsed in the early hours of Sunday and a 21-year-old who was missing and whose body was found this Monday on the bank of a river. (I)