Brazil rains kill more than 600, epidemic feared

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

NOVA FRIBURGO, Brazil, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Rains that devastated a mountainous region north of Rio de Janeiro have killed at least 626 people, Brazil's Civil Defense agency said on Sunday, as fears of more storms and disease outbreaks overshadowed rescue operations.

Nearly five days after rains sparked floods and massive landslides in one of Brazil's worst natural disasters, the death toll continues to rise steadily as rescuers dig up corpses buried by rivers of mud and reach more remote areas.

TV images showed rescue workers looking for people under mounds of debris, a task made difficult by more rain since Saturday.

The government has made available 586 military personnel for rescue operations, 8,000 food baskets and 7 tonnes of medicine and other supplies, it said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1624914420110116

[Kaleva]

1. If 626 people were killed here in US, it'd be major international news.

[uppityperson]

2. k&r and it's up to zero. what the heck?

[aquart]

3. Climate change kills.

And we still treat terrorism as our greatest threat?

[lonestarnot]

4. Yes it does, and we are demented.

[alfredo]

5. Atmospheric Rivers

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2529.htm

Warming adds more moisture into the atmosphere, maybe it makes those "rivers" overflow their banks.

However, atmospheric rivers, like their terrestrial counterparts, also can cause flooding rains in coastal and inland mountains that can have devastating effects on people and landscapes, causing untold costs in property damage and even taking lives.

One such river produced more than 40 inches of rainfall in the mountains of southern California in only four days in early January 2005. That, in turn, caused a massive mudslide in La Conchita, Calif., that took 10 lives and produced widespread flooding.