A storm on Monday 23rd September caused severe flooding in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The government has since declared a state of emergency after flooding displaced more than 20,000 people.
As many as 4,000 houses have been damaged across more than 70 towns in the region. No deaths have been recorded. According to Brazil’s Civil Defense, the areas most affected by the floods are in the northern parts of the state and the region of Vale do Itajaí, including Blumenau, Indaial, Rio do Sul, Taio, Brusque and Benedito Novo, Apiúna, Ituporanga, Rio do Oeste and Gaspar.
In Rio do Sul as much as half of the city’s streets and neighborhoods have been flooded. Brazil’s Meteorology department, MetSul Meteorologia, has warned that the situation is still critical across all the the regions so far affected, but in particular Vale do Itajaí.
It is hoped that federal aid will be available for repairing infrastructure such as bridges and roads that have been damaged. Declaring a state of emergency would be for three months and is hoped to expedite the acquisition of supplies such as medicine, food, machinery and equipment to reduce the damage caused by the flooding .
Santa Catarina often experiences flooding, more usually during the winter, and suffered particularly badly in 2008, where 135 people were killed as a result of flooding, and again in 2011, when 6 people died.
Elsewhere in Brazil, two people were killed and 64 injured in the Brazilian city of Taquarituba after a tornado tore through the area, said officials on Monday.
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Sources: Xinhua Net; Relief Web
Photo Credits: Arcanjo 01 (Twitter) and Adelmo Oscar Struecker
