Floods spread in the Brazilian state of Bahia, which is experiencing its “greatest disaster” | PHOTOS

Floods caused by heavy rains in the Brazilian state of Bahia (northeast) caused two new deaths that brought the total to 20, while the crisis continued to worsen on Monday with almost 63,000 displaced in 100 municipalities in emergency, authorities reported.

“We are experiencing the greatest disaster in the history of Bahia”declared this Monday the governor of BahiaRui Costa, who oversees the joint operation in the affected areas, which has been underway since Saturday with the federal government and other states.

• Rains cause a new death, disappearances and floods in the northeast of Brazil | PHOTOS
• Lula da Silva mourns the death of Desmond Tutu: “he was an example in the fight against apartheid”
• Brazil registers 32 deaths and 3,889 coronavirus infections, while omicron cases rise

The dramatic scenes of houses under water and streets turned into rivers were repeated in municipalities located in the south of the condition, hit since Thursday by heavy rainfall that caused dam ruptures and river overflows over the weekend.

In Itapetinga, aerial images from AFP show three men rowing lying face down on a mat down a street, surrounded by houses with water up to the windows.

The latest figures for displaced persons in the condition They almost doubled Sunday’s balance: 62,796 people had to leave their homes and more than half needed shelter, according to the Superintendency of Protection and Civil Defense of Bahia (Sudec).

In addition to the twenty deaths since the beginning of November due to the rains in the condition, 358 injured have been registered so far.

It is also estimated that a total of 471,009 people have been affected by the increased rainfall produced by the climatic phenomenon called La Niña, added to exceptional rainfall in a short time, according to specialists.

Likewise, the number of affected municipalities rose to 116, with at least 100 in dire straits, nearly double that of the day before, Sudec reported.

The city of Itabuna, where the last two deaths were registered, suffered the overflow of the Cachoeira River. One of the deceased, a 21-year-old young man, was swept away by the current; the other was a 33-year-old woman who died from a landslide, according to the latest state government report Monday afternoon.

In that same city, the G1 news site broadcast images of an older man being rescued with water up to his neck, leaving his home with just a wallet in hand.

“The water is beginning to fall at the head of the Cachoeira river, so, although slowly, the expectation is for improvement in the coming days,” said Governor Costa, in an attempt to bring hope.

“Favorable to disaster”

Estael Sias, a meteorologist at MetSul, assessed that “there is a correlation” between the intensity of the rains in the northeast of the country and the La Niña phenomenon, which causes precipitation above normal.

The aggravating factor is that the storm of the last days was combined with the rains that hit the region weeks ago.

“There was a favorable scenario for disaster,” estimates Sias. “It had already rained a lot in November and now it is raining again in an area that has not yet recovered from that excess rainfall,” he explained.

In the last hours, in some municipalities the volume of water equivalent to a whole month fell.

For example, Salvador, capital of Bahia, was five times as of Friday the historical average of 58 mm for December, according to the city’s Civil Defense.

• Raped, beaten, hanged and suffocated: first testimony of a Guantanamo prisoner about the CIA torture
• A Guantanamo Inmate Takes CIA Tortures To The US Supreme Court
• US Supreme Court questions government refusal to confirm CIA torture after 9/11
• CIA torture after 9/11, America’s best kept secret
• Mohamedou Slahi, the man who spent 14 years in Guantánamo accused of attacking the US without evidence | INTERVIEW

.

Deshawn