Six die, thousands forced out in Brazil floods

SAO PAULO: At least six people were killed and tens of thousands more fled their homes in flooding in the north-east of Brazil over the weekend, regional authorities said.

Rain-swollen rivers, mud slides and falling trees in Pernambuco state drove out at least 30,000 residents, with another 3,000 families forced out in neighboring Alagoas, the governments of the two states 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.