Death toll from f loods reaches 83

The airport is shut down. Dozens of highways have been blocked. Most in the state capital are without running water. The death toll is already at 83 – and sure to climb higher.

Even in a country increasingly inured to natural disasters driven by climate change, the flooding that has swallowed Rio Grande do Sul, one of Brazil’s most developed and prosperous states, has badly shaken this nation of 215 million.

With more than half the cities in the state dealing with floodwaters and 20,000 people left homeless, Rio Grande do Sul hasn’t been just damaged. It has been crippled.

“This is the worst disaster ever registered in the state of Rio Grande do Sul,” governor Eduardo Leite said. “Perhaps one of the worst disasters the country has registered in recent history.”

In recent years, Brazil has grappled regularly with natural disasters: record rains, devastating floods, intense droughts and deadly landslides. Political leaders and scientists have routinely blamed climate change and called for greater action.

That rhetoric has yielded little in the way of concrete change. But this time, the need has appeared far more urgent.

Flying over the devastation, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared openly moved, according to senior aides. His mood was “a mixture of agony and anger,” said one adviser.

Lula later called for a national plan to prevent “climatic accidents” and directed top environmental lieutenant Marina Silva to begin forming a strategy.

“We have to stop just running after disaster,” Lula said. “We have to start preparing for what can happen.”