Record flooding turns streets of Brazil’s Porto Alegre into rivers, trapping people in high-rises
- Authorities in southern Brazil scramble to rescue people as floods wreak havoc in the city of Porto Alegre
- Floods have killed at least 78 people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and dozens are missing
From top to bottom, rescuers scour buildings in Porto Alegre for inhabitants stuck in flats or on rooftops as unprecedented flooding turned the streets of the Brazilian metropolis into rivers.
In the state capital’s Sarandi neighbourhood, firefighters first evacuated people who had found refuge on the roofs of residential buildings, then went in for those on the higher floors inside.
“Now, we are evacuating those on the second and third floors,” Daniel Batista da Rocha, a firefighter from the flood-battered southern state of Rio Grande do Sul said on Sunday.
But the task is complex in a city with many tall buildings, wide avenues, and some 1.4 million inhabitants.
“There is a lot of water … it is deep. The (rescue) boats are travelling at the same height as the power cables. So to navigate, we must cut the cables,” said Rocha, dressed in a wetsuit, life vest and yellow helmet.