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.
