SAO PAULO
Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul declared a state of emergency on Friday after floodwaters forced thousands of families from their homes, local media reported.
The state's civil defense agency reported Friday that the number of people displaced or left homeless by the floods had reached 15,670, and attributed at least two deaths to the situation. Another person is still missing, the report said.
The number of towns and cities affected has also reached 115.
Strong winds, rain and hail have hit the area, tearing roofs from some buildings and uprooting trees. The G1 news portal said emergency services were continuing to search flood-hit regions.
Porto Alegre, the state capital and one of Brazil's 12 World Cup host cities, and its metropolitan region have also been affected by floodwaters, Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported.
77 millimeters of rain was recorded in the span of just a few hours overnight Thursday and Friday morning - around half of which was expected for the entire month.
Inclement weather also caused travel disruptions in Rio de Janeiro on Friday as cloud closed the city's Santos Dumont airport, hindering World Cup fans on flights to Fortaleza, where the Brazilian national team is to meet Colombia for their quarterfinal clash. The airport was reopened later on Friday morning but delays and backlogs continued.
- Government pledges emergency cash
President Dilma Rousseff, who was in Porto Alegre on Friday to open a new hospital, and a number of ministers met with local officials to discuss measures to tackle the disaster.
It was later announced that 25 million Brazilian reais ($11.3 million) of government funds would be made available for flood-hit areas for emergency measures.
"We need resources to finance these costs immediately. We need to help people now to ease the situation, which is of real concern," the president, who previously lived in the city, was quoted by local media as saying.
Moderate to heavy rains are set to continue throughout Friday and into Saturday, the National Institute of Meteorology warned. Local media say the rains, which have been ongoing since the end of June, are part of the "El Nino" phenomenon, which in the south of Brazil is characterized by sharp, heavy rains.
Farmers are reported to be concerned that the rains will hamper the planting of wheat in the region, one of the state's key agricultural industries.
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