50,000 displaced in deadly Brazil floods

SAO PAULO: Floods and landslides in northeastern Brazil have killed six people and driven 50,000 people from their homes, authorities said Tuesday.

Heavy rain swelled rivers, causing mud slides, felling trees and harming water supplies, they said.

The number forced to flee in Pernambuco and Alagoas states rose from an earlier estimate of 30,000, the regional governments said.

Both states declared emergencies after the flooding, which left two dead in Pernambuco and four dead in Alagoas.

President Michel Temer, who is fighting for his political future amid a corruption crisis, briefly abandoned the capital Brasilia to fly over the disaster zone on Sunday.

Temer also used the visit in Pernambuco to authorize a 600-million-reais ($184-million) loan from the BNDES state development bank for the completion of four dams that had been announced back in 2010, state-owned Agencia Brasil reported.