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Rescue efforts in flood-ravaged southern Brazil have been stopped as further rainfall and the risk of lightning and stiff winds threaten to exacerbate a catastrophe that has already killed at least 100 people and left over 163,000 seeking shelter.
The floods, caused by unusually heavy rains, began last week and have destroyed roads 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.”
At least 128 people are still missing, the state’s civil defence authority said, urging people living close to the Patos lagoon south of Porto Alegre to leave their homes immediately.
Army soldiers used amphibious armoured cars to rescue people from flooding in Canoas, just north of the city, where the waters have reached a depth of some 3m and the streets can only be navigated by boat.
One team of volunteer rescuers found about 20 dogs stranded on the second floor of an abandoned factory, offering food to those too fierce to take aboard.
Porto Alegre officials warned civilian rescuers to halt their operations, given the forecast for rain, lightning storms and winds exceeding 80km/hr.
In the Porto Alegre suburb of Eldorado do Sul, tractor driver Daniel Farias said he had spent days ferrying survivors to safety, carrying whole families out on his wheel loader, including pets.
“I have been living in this tractor with my children, to survive this calamity. We believe it will pass,” he said.
Watch: Horse stranded on roof in flood-hit Brazil
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Brazil’s national centre for natural disasters warned that the southern area of Rio Grande do Sul state is under “high risk” of more flooding.
Weather forecaster MetSul said the region could face more “very large” floods “of serious proportions”.
In neighbouring Uruguay, storms and flooding have closed motorways, the government said.
Nearly 800 people are displaced and more than 3,000 without power.
In Brazil, many residents in and around Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million people, have been living in darkness after power companies cut off electricity for security reasons.
They have faced shortages of products, especially drinking water.
Supermarket managers said there was no access for supply trucks or employees trying to get to work.
Mineral water sales were restricted in some supermarkets.
Volunteer rescue operations after dark in Porto Alegre were also hampered by looting, with police providing security using boats and jet skis.
“We are not going out to rescue people at night without an armed escort, because it has become too risky,” volunteer Lauro Strogulski said.
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