CNN
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More than 30 people have died after heavy rains and flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, state governor Eduardo Leite said on Wednesday.
Leite traveled to the disaster area on Wednesday morning and pledged on social media that no effort would be spared to rebuild homes and infrastructure destroyed by rising waters.
The storm is expected to continue to impact the region for the rest of the week.
According to CNN Brasil, regional affiliate of CNN, this week’s rains are the worst natural disaster to hit the state in 40 years.
Brazilian meteorologist Maria Clara Sassaki told CNN Brasil that in one week the state received the average amount of precipitation expected for the entire month of September.
This week’s rains are the fourth extreme weather event in Rio Grande do Sul in the past three months, according to Leite.
Earlier Wednesday, the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) said at least 50 municipalities in the two southern states had been affected, with around 80% of the town of Muçum, in Rio Grande do Sul, under water. .
On Wednesday, the Regional Civil Protection Service issued a flood alert around the Jacuí River and the Jacuí Delta.
“The situation is critical,” MDS Minister Wellington Dias said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.
Cnn