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Death Toll From Brazil Flooding Rises To 20

The death toll from heavy rain and flooding that has plagued the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia since November rose to 20 on Monday, amid incessant torrents that have displaced almost 63,000 people, authorities said. 


Handout picture released by the Bahia State Government showing a member of the Navy helping to transport and empty coffin from Ilheus to the Costa do Cacau Regional Hospital in Itabuna, during floods caused by heavy rains in the region, in Ilheus, south of Bahia State, Brazil, on December 27, 2021. The death toll from heavy rains that have battered the Brazilian state of Bahia since November rose to 18 on December 26, amid incessant torrents that have displaced 35,000 people, authorities said. Two people are also missing, while 19,580 have been displaced and another 16,001 forced to seek shelter, bringing the number of people driven from their homes to 35,000, the Bahia civil protection agency Sudec said. Camila SOUZA / Bahia State Government / AFP
A member of the Navy helping to transport and empty coffin from Ilheus to the Costa do Cacau Regional Hospital in Itabuna, during floods caused by heavy rains in the region, in Ilheus, south of Bahia State, Brazil, on December 27, 2021.  AFP

 

The death toll from heavy rain and flooding that has plagued the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia since November rose to 20 on Monday, amid incessant torrents that have displaced almost 63,000 people, authorities said. 

Two new fatalities were recorded in the town of Itabuna: a 21-year-old man who was swept away by currents and a 33-year-old woman was killed in a landslide, according to a local government report.

“We are living through the biggest disaster in Bahia’s history,” said Bahia Governor Rui Costa, who has been overseeing rescue operations in the afflicted areas since Saturday.

“The water is starting to decline at the source of the Cachoeira River and it is expected to improve in the days to come, although slowly,” Costa said.

Houses were under water and streets turned into rivers in several municipalities in the south of the state, pounded since Thursday by heavy rainfall that caused dams to burst and rivers to overflow at the weekend.

In Itapetinga, AFP aerial footage showed three men paddling on a straw mattress in a street surrounded by houses with water reaching their windows.

The number of people who have been driven from their homes by the flooding has almost doubled since Sunday to 62,796, according to the Civil Protection of Bahia.

Another 358 people have been injured since the onset of the heavy rains in November. In total, authorities estimate that 116 municipalities, including at least 100 that are in a state of emergency, have been affected by the heavy rains.

AFP