CNN
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The scale of the damage caused by floods ravaging southern Brazil has been highlighted in dramatic new satellite images shared with CNN.
At least 95 people have died due to heavy rains and floods that ravaged the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where storms affected more than a million people in 385 municipalities, according to civil defense.
More than 150,000 people were displaced by floods that hit along the region’s Taquari and Cai rivers, overflowing with water and gushing well beyond their banks.
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In one of the images, from Maxar Technologies, an entire neighborhood of homes in the northern part of Porto Alegre, the state capital, lies largely underwater. Roads have turned into muddy rivers and vast fields are browned by floodwaters.
At the capital’s Salgado Filho International Airport, the tracks and roads are completely submerged: only the buildings remain above the water.
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The record rainfall has been linked to El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon that warms Pacific waters and tends to bring heavy rainfall to southern Brazil. Long-term global warming, caused primarily by human consumption of fossil fuels, has also exacerbated extreme weather conditions in the region.
Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil’s southernmost state and until recently a quiet agricultural region – has repeatedly experienced extreme weather events in recent years.
In the central area of the capital, the Gremio Arena football stadium, which can accommodate 55,000 people, is surrounded by floodwaters, with its pitch completely submerged.
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The Brazilian Football Confederation has postponed matches involving teams from Rio Grande do Sul until May 27. Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr. posted an image on Instagram of a plane parked next to pallets of supplies, including bottled water, which he said came from himself and his father. .
He wrote: “Our Brazil is going through a difficult time and helping is NEVER too much, whatever your financial situation, what matters is what you carry in your heart. »
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sent Congress a legislative decree on Tuesday aimed at accelerating the transfer of resources to the region.
More than 46,000 people were rescued from the waters in a massive operation involving some 15,000 people, the federal government said.
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