Dams strain as water levels and death toll rise in south Brazil

The death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by torrential storms in southern Brazil climbed to 37 yesterday, officials said, as rescuers searched for 74 people reported missing in the devastation.Rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul was putting strain on dams and threatening the metropolis of Porto Alegre with "unprecedented” flooding, authorities warned."Forget everything you’ve seen, it’s going to be much worse in the metropolitan region,” Governor Eduardo Leite said yesterday as streets of the state capital, with a population of some 1.5mn, started flooding.Since the start of the week, at least 235 municipalities have suffered storm damage in Rio Grande do Sul, injuring at least 74 people and displacing more than 23,600.More than 350,000 people have experienced some form of damage, according to authorities.And there was no end in sight, with officials reporting an "emergency situation, presenting a risk of collapse” at four dams in the state.The level of the state’s main Guiaba river, meanwhile, was estimated to have reached 4.2-4.6 (about 13.7-15’) yesterday, but could not be measured as the gauges have washed away, the mayor of Porto Alegre said.As it kept rising, officials raced to reinforced flood protection.Porto Alegre’s worst recorded flood was in 1941, when the river reached 4.71m.Elsewhere in the state, several cities and towns have been completely cut off from the world in what governor Leite described as "the worst disaster in the history” of Rio Grande do Sul.Many communities have been left without access to drinking water, telephone or Internet services.Tens of thousands had no electricity among the ruins of collapsed homes, bridges and roads, authorities said.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the region on Thursday, vowing "there will be no lack of human or material resources” in responding to the disaster, which he blamed on climate change.The central government has sent aircraft, boats and more than 600 soldiers to help clear roads, distribute food, water and mattresses, and set up shelters.School classes have been suspended state-wide.South America’s largest country has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely by climate change.The floods came amid a cold front battering the south and southeast following a wave of extreme heat.The country’s north recently experienced an historic drought, and the number of forest fires reached a new record in the first four months of this year."Rain in the south, fire in the north...these two tragedies bear the fingerprints of the climate crisis,” the Climate Observatory non-governmental organisation (NGO) warned in a statement. "The government must take urgent measures to prevent the situation from getting even worse.”Last September, at least 31 people died as a cyclone hit Rio Grande do Sul.