Newsroom      Agência Brasil

Brasilia – Yesterday the country’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, raised the number of municipalities in a state of emergency due to drought from 44 to 54. So it goes.

All this is due to La Niña, in the South Pacific (“all this” is drought in the extreme south of Brazil and above-average rainfall in most of the rest of the country).

The Rio Grande do Sul state Civil Defense says that the number of people affected negatively by the lack of rain has risen from 248,000 to over 302,000 and that the number of municipalities considered disaster areas is 29. Corn crops statewide have been reduced by over 25%.

However, in one of the worst hit areas, known as Frederico Westphalen, populaton 29,000, soy and corn crops are down over 30%, fruit production will be down 20%, tobacco down 15% and pasture land reduced by 15%. Municipal authorities say that water rationing is in place and that most of the population has to depend on water shipped in by truck.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Sobe para 54 o número de municípios gaúchos afetados pela seca