Diego Vara/Portal
Damage and flooding from heavy rains following an extratropical cyclone in Sao Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, on June 17, 2023.
CNN –
At least 12 people have died, five are missing and nearly 3,000 have been left homeless after an “extratropical cyclone” battered Brazil’s Rio Grande Do Sul, local authorities say.
When traveling to the hardest-hit regions of the region, government authorities have strengthened the role of the state relief structure and appealed to “popular solidarity”.
Rio Grande Do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said that the Military Fire Brigade Corps had conducted about 2,400 rescue operations over the past two days and the operations are still ongoing.
“Our priority right now is to find the missing and rescue people who may still be stranded from the floods,” Leite wrote in a statement. “We have all our teams on site and the Logistics and Transport Secretariat is already analyzing bridges and roads at risk so we can act urgently and ensure free passage in those places.”
A video showed a man and a dog being rescued from the flooding by helicopter.
The federal government has undertaken to provide humanitarian aid and to support reconstruction.
Extreme weather events around the world are becoming more intense and frequent against the backdrop of a rapidly warming climate.
The world is already 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in pre-industrial times, and the next five years are expected to be the hottest on record.
According to the UN, the proportion of high-intensity hurricanes, or tropical cyclones, has increased due to warmer global temperatures.
Scientists have also found that the storms are more likely to be stagnant, producing devastating rains, and lasting longer after they reach land.