Rains return to flooded southern Brazil, interrupting rescues

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil: Authorities interrupted rescue efforts in flood-ravaged southern Brazil on Thursday amid more rain and the risk of lightning and stiff winds that threaten to exacerbate a catastrophe that has already killed at least 100 people and left over 163,000 seeking shelter.

The floods that began last week, caused by unusually heavy rains, have destroyed highways and bridges in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, which borders Uruguay and Argentina.

“We’ve lost everything,” said Adriana Freitas in state capital Porto Alegre, where the Guaiba River burst its banks and inundated city streets. “It’s sad when we see the city, our house, in the middle of the water. It seems like it’s over, that the world has ended.”