(6 Sep 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4452253

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Muçum, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - 6 September 2023
1. Various aerials of houses damaged by floods ++MUTE++
HEADLINE: Deadly Brazil storm wreaks havoc
ANNOTATION: A cyclone wreaked havoc as it passed through southern Brazil, killing more than 30 people, leaving 2,300 homeless, and damaging more than 60 cities.
ANNOTATION: The water was so high in Mucum that a sheep was found on an powerline.
2. Various of resident Marcos Antonio Gomes looking through debris of his destroyed house
ANNOTATION: Marcos Antonio Gomes' home has been damaged by floods four times in 15 years. But this time, it was all but destroyed.
3. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Marcos Antonio Gomes, 52, Mucum resident and flood victim:
"We're trying to recover a bit of what's left, but there's very little left, nothing, actually, not even clothes. I'm trying to recover, but there's nothing left. There was a building there, some machinery, there's nothing left. Now we have to get out of here."
4. Gomes walking in the debris
5. Aerial of Taquari River next to houses damaged by flood ++MUTE++
ANNOTATION: The danger has not yet passed with three flood alerts for three major rivers published on Wednesday.

STORYLINE:
An extratropical cyclone in southern Brazil caused floods in several cities, killing at least 27 people and leaving more than 1,600 homeless, authorities said Wednesday.

More than 60 cities have been battered by the storm since Monday night, and Rio Grande do Sul governor Eduardo Leite said that the death toll was the state’s highest due to a climate event.

Rescue efforts expanded farther west on Wednesday, with helicopters headed to the Rio Pardo Valley.

Search and rescue teams had been focusing around the Taquari Valley, about 150 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of the state capital Porto Alegre, where most of the victims and damage were recorded.

More heavy rains were expected to hit the state's center-south region, but possibly sparing worst-hit areas.

Authorities maintained three flooding alerts on Wednesday — for the Jacui, Cai and Taquari rivers.

In Mucum, a city of about 50,000 residents, rescuers found 15 bodies in a single house.

Once the storm had passed, images emerged that showed a sheep hanging from an electrical line — an indication of how high the water had risen.

“The water arrived very fast, it was rising two meters (6.5 feet) an hour,” Mucum resident Marcos Antonio Gomes said. “We have nothing left. Not even clothes.”

Gomes, a 55-year-old businessman, said that it was the fourth time in 15 years that his house had been damaged by floods.

He said this one was the worst so far, and he expects more flooding in the future.

Many of the victims died from electrical shock, or were trapped in vehicles, the online news site G1 reported.

One woman died as she was swept away during a rescue attempt, when the wire broke, releasing her and her rescuer, who was severely injured.

The city hall at Mucum recommended that residents seek out supplies to meet their needs for the next 72 hours.

Rio Grande do Sul was hit by another extratropical cyclone in June, which killed 16 people and caused destruction in 40 cities, many of those around Porto Alegre.


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