Rains in southern Brazil kill at least 37, more than 70 still missing

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Heavy rains battering Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 37 people, local authorities said on Friday, and the death toll is expected to rise as dozens still have not been accounted for.

More than 70 people were still missing and at least 23,000 had been displaced in the state bordering Uruguay and Argentina, which had nearly half of its 497 cities affected, according to Rio Grande do Sul’s civil defense.

In several towns, streets essentially turned into rivers, with roads and bridges destroyed. The storm also triggered landslides and the partial collapse of a dam structure at a small hydroelectric power plant.

A second dam in the city of Bento Goncalves is also at risk of collapsing, authorities said, ordering people who live nearby to evacuate.

The state is at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, which has created a weather pattern with periods of intense rains and others of drought. Local scientists believe the pattern has been intensifying due to climate change.