The number of people killed by flooding and other impacts of the heavy rains battering Kenya has risen to 228, the interior ministry said on Sunday.144 killed in Pakistan, 78 in Brazil
The torrential rains that have caused widespread flooding and landslides across the country in recent weeks are forecast to worsen in May.
In a statement, the ministry said further flooding was “expected in low lying areas, riparian areas and urban areas while landslides/mudslides may occur in areas with steep slopes, escarpments and ravines.”
Kenya floods death toll tops 200 as cyclone approaches
The deluges have destroyed homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure across East Africa’s largest economy.
At least 164 people have been injured by the adverse weather, while 212,630 have been displaced, the ministry said.
Pakistan has experienced its “wettest April since 1961”, receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country’s weather agency has said.
April rainfall was recorded at 59.3mm (2.3 inches), “excessively above” the normal average of 22.5mm (0.9 inches), the metrology department said in its monthly climate report released late on Friday.
The highest rainfall was recorded in the southwestern province of Balochistan with 437 percent more than average.
At least 144 people also died in the thunderstorms and house collapses due to heavy rains in April.
The largest death toll was reported in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 84 people died, including 38 children, and more than 3,500 homes were damaged.
While much of Asia is sweltering due to heatwaves, Pakistan’s national monthly temperature for April was 23.67 degrees Celsius (74.6 degrees Fahrenheit), 0.87C lower than the average of 24.54C, the report added.
“Climate change is a major factor that is influencing the erratic weather patterns in our region,” Zaheer Ahmad Babar, spokesman for the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said of the report.
In 2022, downpours swelled rivers and at one point flooded a third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people. The floods caused $30bn in damages, from which Pakistan is still trying to rebuild. Balochistan saw rainfall at 590 percent above average that year, while Karachi saw 726 percent more rainfall than usual.
“The flash floods caused extensive damage to vast area of crops, particularly the wheat crop, which was ready for harvest,” the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in a recent report.
“This has resulted in significant economic losses for local farmers and communities, compounding the losses from the rain-related incidents,” it said.
Meanwhile, parts of Pakistan have also been hit by heatwaves and severe air pollution, which experts say are exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and ineffective governance.
“We are witnessing climate change-related incidents nearly every year now. Yet we are not prepared for it,” environment lawyer and activist Ahmad Rafay Alam told the AFP news agency.
“It is the responsibility of our provincial and federal governments to prioritise climate relief and mitigation measures. However, their focus appears to be primarily on political matters,” Alam added.
The death toll from heavy rains that have caused flooding in Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul has risen to at least 78, local authorities said on Sunday, with more than 115,000 people displaced.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived in Rio Grande do Sul on Sunday morning with most members of his cabinet to discuss rescue and reconstruction efforts with local authorities.
"Bureaucracy will not stand in our way, stopping us from recovering the state's greatness," Lula said at a press conference.
"It is a war scenario, and will need post-war measures," state governor Eduardo Leite added.
Volunteers using boats, jet skis - and even swimming - have assisted in ongoing rescue efforts. In the state capital Porto Alegre, Fabiano Saldanha said he and three friends have used jet skis to save about 50 people from flood waters since Friday in islands that are part of the city.
"The only thing we hear when we enter a street is 'help,' 'help,'" Saldanha said.
The death toll could still substantially increase as 105 people were reported missing on Sunday, up from about 70 the prior day, according to the state civil defense authority. It also said it was investigating whether another four deaths were related to the storms.
Flooding from storms in the past few days has affected more than two thirds of the nearly 500 cities in the state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina, leaving more than 115,000 people displaced, according to authorities.
Toddler rescued from roof top in deadly Brazil floods
Floods have destroyed roads and bridges in several cities. The rains also triggered landslides and the partial collapse of a dam at a small hydroelectric power plant.
More than 400,000 people were without power on Sunday evening, while nearly a third of the state's population was without water, authorities said.
In Porto Alegre, the Guaiba lake breached its banks, hitting the highest water level on record, according to the national geological service. Porto Alegre's international airport has suspended all flights since Friday.
At a makeshift rescue center in Porto Alegre, Kaeli Moraes described being rescued along with her husband and their three children when the water had nearly reached the second floor of their house.
"There was flooding in September, then in November, and now this one. It is only getting worse," Moraes said.
In the city of Canoas, near Porto Alegre, Julio Manichesque, 76, was rescued by volunteers after he had stayed since Friday on the roof of the house where he has lived for 52 years.
"I have never seen that much water," Manichesque said.
During his weekly address to crowds in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope Francis said on Sunday he was praying for the people of Rio Grande do Sul
