Death toll rises to 107 from floods caused by heavy rains in southern Brazil

The Government of Brazil announces a first aid package valued at nearly 1.4 billion euros

Civil Defense of Río Grande del Sur has reported this Thursday the death of at least 107 people as a consequence of the serious floods caused by the two storms that have been hitting the state since last week, while another 136 people remain missing.

The authorities have put the number of injured at 374 and more than 232,100 people who have been forced to leave their homes - some 67,500 permanently - due to the consequences of what is already the most devastating phenomenon that has occurred. has been recorded so far in Rio Grande do Sul.

There are 1.4 million people who have been affected in some way by a storm that in the coming days will bring temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, as the water level begins to drop, although it remains for above five centimeters in some parts of Porto Alegre.

For these days they have decreed a state of alert for rains with volumes that can exceed up to 100 millimeters, falling mainly in areas of the central north and east of the state, which has 425 of its 497 municipalities affected.

In Porto Alegre, the capital, schools will remain closed at least until this Friday, as well as several universities, in some cases until May 18. Hundreds of roads have been affected and the airport will remain closed until further notice.

For its part, the Government of Brazil has announced new aid measures valued at 7.7 billion reais (close to 1.4 billion euros), which include the advance of several social bonds, the restitution of income tax for resident of the state, as well as various loans for families and businesses and rural producers.

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has indicated that the measures announced this Thursday - which, although they are already coming into force, require the approval of Congress - are only the first. "This does not end here," he stressed.

"We have to prepare because we are going to see the size and importance of the problems when the water level drops and the rivers return to their normal course," Lula said. The Government estimates that the scope of the measures, added to the tax exemptions for those affected, will reach up to 50 billion reais (9 billion euros).