Health authorities in the Brazilian flood-hit State of Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul confirmed Monday that an eighth patient had died of leptospirosis, Agencia Brasil reported. The victim was a 31-year-old man from São Leopoldo who had prolonged exposure to contaminated water.
According to the latest report from Civil Defense, the number of casualties in the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul since the first storms hit on April 29 have already reached 78 people, with 105 others still missing and 175 injured.
Relief work in Petropolis had to be halted Thursday due to new rains but the death toll continued to increase from previous figures, reaching 117 fatalities and at least 116 people missing.
In Brazil's Amazon region the Rio Negro has swollen to levels unseen in over a century of record-keeping. More than 450,000 people have been affected state-wide. Residents in Manaus, the biggest city in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, were struggling to cope with severe flooding after heavy rain caused nearby rivers to swell.
Over 30,000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in southeast Brazil that also killed 54 people and left 18 missing. The storms in recent days caused floods and landslides, submerging entire neighbourhoods and sending homes tumbling down hillsides in the states of Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.