Extratropical cyclone kills at least 27 in Brazil and leaves over 1,600 homeless

An extratropical cyclone in southern Brazil has caused floods in several cities, killing at least 31 people and leaving more than 1,600 homeless.

More than 60 cities have been battered by the storm since Monday night, and Rio Grande do Sul’s governor, Eduardo Leite, said the death toll was the state’s highest due to a climate event.

Rescue efforts expanded farther west on Wednesday with helicopters headed to the Rio Pardo Valley. Search and rescue teams had been focusing around the Taquari Valley, about 150km (31 miles) north-west of the state capital Porto Alegre, where most of the victims and damage were recorded.

The floods in Rio Grande do Sul were the latest in a series of such disasters to have recently struck Brazil, where more than 50 people were killed in São Paulo state earlier this year after extensive downpours caused landslides and flooding.

More heavy rains were expected to hit the state’s center-south region, but possibly sparing worst-hit areas.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he had spoken to Leite to offer the federal government’s full support for the state to “face this crisis”.

Lula sent two ministers to the state to oversee search and rescue efforts and said the vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, would also be “on standby” to travel there.

Authorities maintained three flooding alerts on Wednesday – for the Jacui, Cai and Taquari Rivers.

TV footage showed families on the top of their houses pleading for help as rivers overflowed their banks. Some areas were entirely cut off after wide avenues turned into fast-moving rivers.

Leite said 15 of the deaths occurred in one house in Muçum, a city of about 50,000 residents. Once the storm had passed, TV footage showed a goat hanging from an electrical line – an indication of how high the water had risen.

Many of the victims died from electrical shock, or were trapped in vehicles, online news site G1 reported.

The city hall at Muçum recommended that residents seek out supplies to meet their needs for the next 72 hours.