STORY: Massive flooding caused by heavy rain in Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul has pushed the death toll up at least 78 people by the end of Sunday - with nearly 120 thousand people displaced.
The death toll in the massive floods that have hit Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul reached at least 76 people by the end of Sunday- with nearly 120 thousand people displaced.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his cabinet arrived in the region on Sunday morning to discuss rescue and reconstruction efforts with local authorities.
"I know that we have many state roads that need repair. I want to tell you that I'm not worried because the federal government, through the Ministry of Transportation, will help you recover the state roads."
Volunteers with boats, jet skis or that were even simply swimming have helped in ongoing rescue efforts.
The death toll could still drastically increase as over a hundred people were reported missing on Sunday - according to the state civil defense authority.
Flooding from the storms over the past few days has affected more than two thirds of the nearly 500 cities in the state, which sits on the border with Uruguay and Argentina.
Many residents found refuge in shelters. Among them were Silvia Rodrigues Lima and her baby daughter.
"We don't know how our house will be, the things we put so much work into every day to build and buy. And now to arrive with nothing, we have lost everything."
An Instagram video from the army's aviation command showed an officer hitting the roof of the house with a brick to rescue the child and pull him to safety. Reuters blurred the toddler's face to protect his identity.
The toddler and his relatives were trapped in the floods in Lajeado, in southern Brazil.
Floods have destroyed roads and bridges in several cities, the rain also triggered landslides and the partial collapse of a dam at a small hydroelectric power plant, leaving nearly half a million people without power on Sunday evening.
