50,000 displaced in deadly floods - Authorities

The New York Times 21:57 - 30 May 2017

Residents of the city of Barreiros clean their houses affectd by floods, due to heavy rains in Pernambuco state, northeastern Brazil, on May 30, 2017

Heavy rain swelled rivers, causing mud slides, felling trees and harming water supplies, they said.

Floods and landslides in northeastern

The number forced to flee in Pernambuco and Alagoas states rose from an earlier estimate of 30,000, the regional governments said.

Both states declared emergencies after the flooding, which left two dead in Pernambuco and four dead in Alagoas.

President Michel Temer, who is fighting for his political future amid a corruption crisis, briefly abandoned the capital Brasilia to fly over the disaster zone on Sunday.

Temer also used the visit in Pernambuco to authorize a 600-million-reais ($184-million) loan from the BNDES state development bank for the completion of four dams that had been announced back in 2010, state-owned Agencia Brasil reported.