Hundreds of lives were lost over the weekend due to catastrophic floods in Brazil, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. These tragic events follow recent severe storms and flooding that claimed hundreds of lives in Brazil, Kenya, and Tanzania, and caused significant devastation in Dubai and Oman over the past two weeks.
Key Facts
- In Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan Province, at least 315 people were killed and over 1,600 injured following a series of flash floods, as reported by Reuters citing the Taliban-controlled refugee agency. UNICEF confirmed that at least 51 of the casualties were children. The heavy rains destroyed approximately 3,000 houses in Baghlan Province, along with 300 more in neighboring Takhar and Badakhshan Provinces.
- Indonesia experienced severe flooding caused by torrential rain, a cold lava flow from the erupting Mount Merapi, and devastating mudslides. The overflowing river in Sumatra resulted in 37 deaths and more than a dozen missing, according to the Associated Press and Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency.
- In Brazil, ongoing floods continued to wreak havoc in the Rio Grande do Sul state, raising the death toll to 143 as of Sunday, according to the state government. The flooding, which began on April 29, has displaced over 500,000 people across 446 municipalities, with 81,285 residents now living in shelters.
KEY BACKGROUND
One of the most catastrophic floods started on April 29 when a storm system unleashed torrential rains across South America, hitting southern Brazil and its border with Uruguay. Hundreds of towns and cities, including Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, were inundated. Two weeks on, the death toll is still climbing as the country battles to deliver aid and repair the devastated neighborhoods. The situation worsened on May 2 when the 14 de Julho hydroelectric dam collapsed on the Taquari River, intensifying the flooding and leaving thousands without power.