Brazil steps up flood aid efforts

BBC: Brazilian military planes have been ferrying food and other supplies to northern Brazil where weeks of heavy rain have caused widespread flooding. Civil defence officials say at least 42 people have died and 274,000 people have had to leave their homes.

Floodwaters are subsiding in some areas but some rivers are reported to be still rising rapidly in Amazonas state. The unusually heavy rains have hit regions used to downpours but also the arid north-east of Brazil.

…Among the worst-hit areas is the state of Maranhao, where 65,000 people have had to leave their homes. The town of Trizidela do Vale is said to be almost completely flooded. Across the north and north-east, some one million people are said to have been affected by the floods. In Amazonas state, several rivers are still rising, officials said, including the Rio Negro which flows past the state capital, Manaus….

On the banks of the Rio Negro near Manaus, photo by MSouza, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2