CNN
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The devastation of flooding hitting southern Brazil is revealed in dramatic new satellite images shared with CNN.
At least 95 people were killed in heavy rains and flooding that hit Rio Grande do Sul state, civil defense officials said, and the storm affected more than 1 million people in 385 municipalities.
More than 150,000 people have been evacuated due to flooding along the Takali and Kai rivers in the region, with water overflowing and gushing far beyond its banks.
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In one image provided by Maxar Technologies, large parts of an entire residential area in the northern part of the state capital, Porto Alegre, are underwater. Roads have turned into muddy waters, and vast fields are dyed brown by flooding.
At Salgado Filho International Airport in the capital, The runway and road were completely submerged, leaving only buildings above water.
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This record rainfall is believed to be linked to El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon that tends to warm waters in the Pacific Ocean and bring heavy rain to southern Brazil. Long-term global warming, caused primarily by humans burning fossil fuels, is also exacerbating extreme weather events in the region.
Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, was until recently a calm agricultural region, but in recent years it has experienced repeated abnormal weather events.
The Gremio Arena, a 55,000-seater soccer stadium in the center of the capital, was surrounded by floodwaters and the pitch was completely submerged.
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The Brazilian Football Federation has postponed matches involving teams from the state of Rio Grande do Sul until May 27. Brazilian national soccer star Neymar Jr. posted an image on Instagram of a plane parked next to pallets of supplies containing bottled water, which came from him and his father. That's what it means. .
he wrote: “Our Brazil is going through difficult times and it is never too much to help, regardless of your financial situation. What matters is what you have in your heart.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday sent a legislative act to Congress to accelerate the transfer of resources to the region.
According to the federal government, more than 46,000 people were rescued from the sea in a large-scale operation involving about 15,000 people.