PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, May 5, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Raging floods and mudslides 
have killed at least 55 people in southern Brazil and forced nearly 70,000 to 
flee their homes, the country's civil defense agency said on Saturday.

At least 74 people were injured and another 67 missing from the catastrophic 
flooding, civil defense said.

The toll did not include two people who died in an explosion at a flooded gas 
station in Porto Alegre, witnessed by an AFP journalist, where rescue crews 
were attempting to refuel.

Fast-rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were straining 
dams and particularly threatening economically important Porto Alegre, a city 
of 1.4 million. 

The Guaiba River, which flows through the city, is at a historic high of 5.04 
meters (16.5 feet), well above the 4.76 meters that had stood as a record 
since devastating 1941 floods.

Authorities scrambled to evacuate swamped neighborhoods as rescue workers 
used four-wheel-drive vehicles -- and even jet skis -- to maneuver through 
waist-deep water in search of the stranded.

In addition to the 69,200 residents forced from their homes, civil defense 
also said more than a million people lacked access to potable water amid the 
flooding, describing damage as incalculable.

Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said his state -- normally one of 
Brazil's most prosperous -- would need a "Marshall Plan" of heavy investment 
to rebuild after the catastrophe.

In many places, long lines formed as people tried to board buses, although 
bus services to and from the city center were canceled.

The Porto Alegre international airport suspended all flights on Friday for an 
undetermined period. 

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva posted a video of a helicopter depositing 
a soldier atop a house, where he used a brick to pound a hole in the roof and 
rescue a baby wrapped in a blanket.

Joao Guilherme, a 23-year-old salesman, found his way to safety in the state 
capital -- but without his cell phone.

"I have no communication with anybody, I'm very shaken," he said.

The speed of the rising waters unnerved Greta Bittencourt, 32, a professional 
poker player.

"It's terrifying because we saw the water rise in an absurd way, it rose at a 
very high speed," Bittencourt said. 

- 'Going to be much worse' -

With waters starting to overtop a dike along another local river, the 
Gravatai, Mayor Sebastiao Melo issued a stern warning on social media 
platform X, saying, "Communities must leave!"

He urged people to ration water, after four of the city's six treatment 
plants had to be closed.

In a live transmission on Instagram, Governor Leite said the situation was 
"absolutely unprecedented," the worst in the history of the state, home to 
agroindustrial production of soy, rice, wheat and corn.

Residential areas were underwater as far as the eye could see, with roads 
destroyed and bridges swept away by powerful currents.

Rescuers faced a colossal task, with entire towns inaccessible.

At least 300 municipalities have suffered storm damage in Rio Grande do Sul 
since Monday, according to local officials.

- 'Disastrous cocktail' -

Roughly a third of the displaced have been brought to shelters set up in 
sports centers, schools and other facilities.

The rains also affected the southern state of Santa Catarina, where one man 
died Friday when his car was swept away by raging floodwaters in the 
municipality of Ipira.

Lula, who visited the region Thursday, blamed the disaster on climate change.

The devastating storms were the result of a "disastrous cocktail" of global 
warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon, climatologist Francisco Eliseu 
Aquino told AFP on Friday.

South America's largest country has recently experienced a string of extreme 
weather events, including a cyclone in September that claimed at least 31 
lives.

Aquino said the region's geography meant it was often confronted by the 
effects of tropical and polar air masses colliding -- but these events have 
"intensified due to climate change."