Brazil floods: Frantic rescue efforts pick up; 78 killed

Porto Alegre, Brazil faces largest climate catastrophe with floods, mudslides, and thousands displaced, prompting massive rescue efforts.

Authorities in southern Brazil scrambled Sunday to rescue people from raging floods and mudslides in what has become the region's largest ever climate catastrophe, with at least 78 dead and 115,000 forced from their homes.

Entire cities were underwater, with thousands of people cut off from the world by the floodwater, brought by days of torrential rains.

In Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, residents stood on rooftops hoping to be rescued as others in canoes or small boats navigated streets that have become rivers.

After what one climatologist called "a disastrous cocktail" of climate change and the El Nino effect, more than 3,000 soldiers, firefighters and other rescuers were trying to reach residents, who were in many cases trapped without basic supplies such as running water or electricity.

Civil defense officials said at least 105 people were missing in the latest of a string of catastrophic weather events to hit the South American giant.

"It looks like a scene out of a war, and after it is over it will require a post-war approach," Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said, flanked by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and several government ministers.

Mr. Lula promised the government would provide all necessary resources for reconstruction.