What happened
At least 105 people have died and 130 are missing as devastating floods ravage southern Brazil. An estimated 160,000 people have been left homeless in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The Guaíba River rose over 16 feet in the state capital, Porto Alegre, and flights have been canceled from the city’s flooded airport through the end of the month.
Who said what
“The emergency is continuing to develop” and “it’s not time to go home,” said Rio Grande do Sul Gov. Eduardo Leite. “It seems like we’re living through the end of the world,” said nursing technician Beatriz Belmontt Abel to The New York Times.
Climate experts said the extreme rainfall in southern Brazil, and the concurrent drought in Brazil’s Amazon, was tied to the cyclical El Niño phenomenon exacerbated by climate change, deforestation and unplanned urban growth.
What next?
Soldiers, volunteers and emergency workers are delivering aid and searching for people in need of rescue, but “authorities worried that the crisis could worsen because another wave of severe weather was expected in coming days,” the Times said.
The record rainfall is linked to El Niño, which has been exacerbated by climate change
