Army members, firefighters, healthcare personnel and volunteers participate in the rescue operation in the Sarandi neighborhood which was affected by the floods, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil on May 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Authorities in southern Brazil scrambled Sunday to rescue people from raging floods and mudslides in what has become the region’s largest ever climate catastrophe, with at least 78 dead and 115,000 forced from their homes.

Entire cities were underwater, with thousands of people cut off from the world by the floodwater, brought by days of torrential rains.

In Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, residents stood on rooftops hoping to be rescued as others in canoes or small boats navigated streets that have become rivers.

After what one climatologist called “a disastrous cocktail” of climate change and the El Nino effect, more than 3,000 soldiers, firefighters and other rescuers were trying to reach residents, who were in many cases trapped without basic supplies such as running water or electricity.

Civil defense officials said at least 105 people were missing in the latest of a string of catastrophic weather events to hit the South American giant.

“It looks like a scene out of a war, and after it is over it will require a post-war approach,” Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said, flanked by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and several government ministers.

Mr. Lula promised the government would provide all necessary resources for reconstruction.

Besides Porto Alegre, another 341 towns and villages have been hit by the flooding.

Soldiers are setting up field hospitals after hundreds of patients had to be evacuated from regular hospitals, while civilians have also formed volunteer groups to gather basic supplies, including life jackets, water and fuel.

“Everyone helps in their own way, as they can,” said Luis Eduardo da Silva, a 32-year-old volunteer.

The Guaiba River, which flows through the city of 1.4 million people, reached a record high level of 5.3 meters (17.4 feet), according to the local municipality, well above the historic peak of 4.76 metres that had stood as a record since devastating 1941 floods.

“Rio Grande do Sul has always been a meeting point between tropical and polar air masses,” climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino told AFP.

“But these interactions intensified with climate change” to create “a disastrous cocktail that makes the atmosphere more unstable and encourages storms.”

Rosana Custodio, a 37-year-old nurse, fled her flooded Porto Alegre home with her husband and three children.

“During the night on Thursday the waters began to rise very quickly,” she told AFP via a WhatsApp message.

“In a hurry, we went out to look for a safer place. But we couldn’t walk… My husband put our two little ones in a kayak and rowed with bamboo. My son and I swam to the end of the street,” she said.

Her family was safe, but “we’ve lost everything we had.”

‘It’s terrifying’

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.

Governor Leite said his state, normally one of Brazil’s most prosperous, would need heavy investment to rebuild.

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, with its runways underwater.

Mr. Lula posted a video of a helicopter depositing a soldier atop a house, who then used a brick to pound a hole in the roof and rescue a baby wrapped in a blanket.

The speed of the rising waters unnerved many.

“It’s terrifying because we saw the water rise in an absurd way, it rose at a very high speed,” said Greta Bittencourt, a 32-year-old professional poker player.

‘Disastrous cocktail’

Mr. Leite said this was the worst natural disaster in the history of Rio Grande do Sul, which is home to agro-industrial production of soy, rice, wheat and corn.

Mr. Lula, who visited the state twice in a matter of days, has blamed the disaster on climate change.

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

New Delhi:

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he was very touched emotionally when he went to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in Delhi. He noted that Mahatma Gandhi had a great meaning in his political life.

In his remarks at the closing session of the G20 Presidency, the Brazilian President said, “And I would like to say, Prime Minister Modi that I personally am very much touched emotionally when I went to pay a homage to our dear Gandhi. Everybody knows that in my political life, Mahatma Gandhi has great meaning because the struggle for non-violence with role model that I followed for many decades when I was in the labour movement. And that’s why I am very much touched and emotional. And I like to thank you for the opportunity to pay this homage that we did today.

“And I like to say to all of you that Brazil will take the chair of the G20 and we will make a tremendous endeavour to manage to at least try to do something as the same that our brothers and sisters from India did,” he added. 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the statement as he and all other world leaders paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on Sunday morning. 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts in conducting the G20 Summit and set forth three priorities under his country’s presidency of the grouping. These, the Brazil President said include social inclusion and the fight against hunger, energy transition, sustainable development and reform of global governance institutions.

At the closing session of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, “All these priorities are part of the Brazilian presidency motto which says ‘Building a fair world and a sustainable planet’. Two task forces will be created – Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and the Global Mobilisation against Climate Change.”

“…The technical groups and the preparatory ministerial meetings will be hosted in several cities in all five regions of our country…I will be very much honoured to welcome you all to Rio de Janeiro Summit in November of 2024 and before I ham the hammer here, I would like to thank very much to PM Modi and to thank the Indian people for the competence that they had in organising this event…,” he said. 

He made the remarks after PM Modi handed over the ceremonial gavel of the Group of 20 Presidency to him. The Brazilian President said that the world needs to redouble its efforts to achieve the goal of ending world hunger by 2030.

“We need to redouble our efforts to achieve the goal of ending world hunger by 2030. Otherwise, we will be facing the biggest multilateral failure in recent years, Acting to fight climate change requires political will and determination of the rulers as well as resources and technology transfer. We want greater participation of the emerging economies in the decision-making process of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the unbearable foreign debts of the poor countries needs to be addressed,” he added.

The Brazilian President said that people today are living in a world where wealth is more concentrated in which millions of human beings still go hungry and where sustainable development is always threatened.

“…We are living in a world where wealth is more concentrated in which millions of human beings still go hungry, where sustainable development is always threatened, in which government institutions still reflect the reality of middle of the last century. We will only be able to face all these problems if we address the issue of inequality – inequality of income, of access to healthcare, education, food, gender and race and also of representation is at the origin of these anomalies,” Lula da Silva said.

He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an “efficient leading” of India’s G20 Presidency and praised him for the work carried out in preparing the G20 Summit. Lula also expressed gratitude to India for its efforts of giving voice of the topics of interest to emerging economies.

“I thank India for its efforts for giving voice of the topics of interest to emerging economies. I would also like to give my salute to our friend, the representative of the African Union, who is a member of the G20,” the Brazilian President said.

Earlier, PM Modi handed over the ceremonial gavel of the G20 Presidency to Brazil’s President at the G20 summit here.

“I congratulate Brazilian President and my friend Lula da Silva and hand over the gavel of Presidency,” PM Modi said minutes before the G20 Summit in Delhi concluded.

Earlier, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva handed over saplings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of Session 3 of the G20 Summit.

While Indonesia held the G20 presidency last year, Brazil will hold the presidency after India and hold the G20 Summit in its capital Rio de Janeiro. India took over the G20 presidency on December 1 last year at the G20 Summit in Indonesia’s Bali and will continue to hold it till the end of November.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would not be arrested in Brazil if he attends the Group of 20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Interviewed on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Delhi by news show Firstpost, Lula said Putin would be invited to next year’s event, adding that he himself planned to attend a BRICS bloc of developing nations meeting due in Russia before the Rio meeting.

“I believe that Putin can go easily to Brazil,” Lula said. “What I can say to you is that if I’m president of Brazil, and he comes to Brazil, there’s no way he will be arrested.”

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has denied its forces have engaged in war crimes, or forcibly taken Ukrainian children.

Putin has repeatedly skipped international gatherings, and was not present at the G20 get-together in Delhi, sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute which led to the founding of the ICC. Lula’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Saturday, the G20 nations adopted a consensus declaration that avoided condemning Russia for the war in Ukraine but called on all states not to use force to grab territory.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)