Brazil rushes to aid flood victims, 32 dead

Source: China Daily | 05-07-2009 10:31

SAO PAULO -- Brazil rushed aid Wednesday by air, over land and through rapidly rising waters to scores of cities and towns isolated by floods that have killed at least 32 and left nearly 200,000 homeless.

An aerial view of streets flooded by the Tocantins river  in Maraba, north of Brazil May 6, 2009.[Agencies]

But in an ominous sign that worried officials, rain continued to fall across a vast region stretching from the Amazon jungle to the northeastern Atlantic coast and meteorologists predicted the bad weather could last for weeks.

In three Amazon states, at least 3,000 Indians near rivers that overflowed fled to higher ground or into the jungle after seeing their crops of manioc, bananas and potatoes destroyed, said Sebastiao Haji Manchiner, executive secretary of the Brazilian Amazon Indigenous Organization.

In the hardest-hit state of Maranhao, some rivers were rising as much as 1 foot (30 centimeters) per day, destroying bridges and making it too dangerous for relief workers to navigate waterways.

"There are some places where the water is so high that not even a boat can get to people," said Brazilian army Lt. Ivar Araujo, in charge of 200 soldiers trying to help citizens in two towns where homes were submerged to their roof tiles and hundreds packed into shelters in gyms and schools on higher ground.

The unusually heavy rains that have slammed the region for two months are now affecting 10 of Brazil's 26 states in a zone three times the size of Alaska. It stretches from the normally wet jungle to coastal states known for lengthy droughts, though not all parts of the states have been affected.