Americas

Americas

Flooding in northeast Brazil affect 117,000

28 February 2012 04:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.The floods in the Brazil’ s northeastern state of Acre have already caused at least one death and affected about 117,000 people, the National Defense Ministry said on Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to the Defense Ministry, 12,100 people lost their homes in Acre and over 100,000 people had to be temporarily relocated due to the flood. One person was killed by an electric shock on Friday in the middle of a storm, when he was voluntarily helping a family to move from a flooded area.

Several of Acre’s largest towns declared state of emergency, including the state capital Rio Branco, where 15 percent of the electric energy network was turned off as a security measure.

The water level in the Acre River, which crosses the northeastern Brazilian state, continues to rise. Currently, it is 17.6 meters above the regular levels, said local authorities.

Flooding has affected Acre state for several days. Last week, the federal government announced a five-million reais (2.94 million U.S. dollars) fund to support the relief works in this state.

The rain in this area is expected to continue in the next days and the situation is expected to get worse.