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LATIN AMERICA |
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Floods leave 2,900
Homeless in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO - The
number of people who are forced to leave
their homes due to the heavy rain which has
been falling over several towns in Rio de
Janeiro state, in Brazil's southeastern
region, in the past two days reached 2,900,
local authorities said on Friday.
The towns of Tres Rios, Tangua, Belford Roxo
and Duque de Caxias have declared state of
emergency due to the deluge. Tres Rios, in
the state's southern region, has the highest
number of homeless people, about 1,540,
followed by Belford Roxo, Tangua, and
Valenca. The towns of Nova Iguacu, Duque de
Caxias and Natividade also reported that
some of the local citizens had to leave
their homes due to the flood.
The bad weather has already caused three
deaths. On Thursday, in the town of Nova
Iguacu, a 48-year-old farmer and his
children, aged 19 and 15, died when their
house was hit by a mudslide.
In Rio's metro area, several schools were
flooded and did not open on Friday, leaving
almost 10,000 students without classes.
According to the state's Civil Defense
services, The rainfall in the region was
over 70 percent foreseen for the entire
month of November.
Heavy storms are very common in the spring
and summer months in Rio de Janeiro state,
as well as in several other regions in
Brazil. One year ago, a major flood caused
the death of 135 people in Santa Catarina
state, in the country's southern region.
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