Updated on
Summary
Weeks of flooding in southeastern Brazil have killed at least 35 people and prompted officials to declare a state of emergency for 55 towns. Rescue services in the worst-affected state of Minas Gerais said 16 people have died there since the onset of the wet season in November. A 38-year-old man died Wednesday when his house collapsed in the town of Santa Rita do Supacai, injuring his wife and their four children, the state civil defense service said. Municipalities in that state declared the state of emergency to win government help to cope with the flooding. In neighboring Sao Paulo state, five people died Wednesday, according to newspaper reports. Four members of the same family a couple and their two children aged four and nine perished when a mudslide swallowed their home in the town of Jundiai.In Maua, on the other side of Sao Paulo city, a mother and her 11-year-old son died when another mudslide hit their house, the Folha de Sao Paulo and Estado de Sao Paulo newspapers said. According to Estado de Sao Paulo, a total of 473 people died across Brazil in rains and flooding for all of 2010, and 7.8 million people were affected.
