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Toll Rises, Looters Arrested

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2008

NAVEGANTES, Brazil - Hungry survivors looted supermarkets and emergency crews tried to get aid to nearly 80,000 people driven from their homes Wednesday as rain-spawned mudslides and floods killed at least 97 people and isolated cities in southern Brazil.

Amid mounting misery in the disaster zone, at least 20 people were arrested for ransacking a supermarket in the hard-hit city of Itajai, where many streets were still submerged under torrential weekend rains, state media said.

Besides food, the looters tried to cart away plasma TVs and a refrigerator, the Agencia Brasil news service reported.

Nearly 100,000 people remained cut off by flooding in eight cities in Santa Catarina state, civil defense officials said in a statement.

Helicopters - some provided by the government, others donated by businesses - rescued 1,100 people, authorities said.

"The cities in the south still cannot be reached, it's going to take some time," Army Lt. Col. Jose Henrique Ruffo told Globo TV.

The weekend downpours dumped as much water on the area as it usually receives in months, cutting residents off from electricity, drinking water and food. The water shortage was so extreme that civil defense officials advised people to drink swimming pool water after boiling it for 10 minutes.

State Gov. Luiz Henrique da Silveira flew with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over areas devastated by floodwaters, and said Silva was "shocked when he saw the Dantesque spectacle below him."

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