Severe flooding brought on by torrential rains has killed 44 people across northern Brazil and forced some 180,000 others to evacuate their homes, mainly to emergency shelters, officials said Saturday.
The National Civil Defence Secretariat said deaths have occurred in eight of 11 states severely affected by the flooding, including Ceara with 12 deaths, Maranhao (nine) and Bahia (seven) in the perennially drought-stricken north-east; and eight deaths in the northern state of Amazonas. The rains and resulting floods have forced 126,376 people to shelters after they lost their homes, with another 57,000 people temporarily dislocated to stay with friends or relatives, the secretariat said.