Since Monday night, more than 60 cities have been impacted by the storm, and Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite stated that the mortality toll was the state’s highest due to a climate event.

Wednesday, rescue efforts expanded westward with the dispatch of helicopters to the Rio Pardo Valley. The Taquari Valley, approximately 150 kilometers north-northwest of the state capital Porto Alegre, was where the majority of victims and devastation were reported.

The state’s central-southern region was anticipated to receive additional torrential rains, but possibly sparing the worst-affected areas.

Wednesday, authorities issued three flood warnings for the Jacui, Cai, and Taquari rivers.

Families were captured on television appealing for assistance from the roofs of their homes as rivers overflowed their banks. Following the transformation of broad avenues into swift-moving rivers, certain regions were completely cut off.

Leite said that 15 of the deaths happened in one house in the city of Mucum, which has about 50,000 people. Once the storm was over, TV video showed a goat hanging from an electrical line. This showed how high the water had gotten.

Online news site G1 said that many of the people who died were shocked by electricity or were stuck in their cars.

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The city hall in Mucum told people to get enough goods to last them for the next three days.

In June, another extratropical cyclone hit Rio Grande do Sul. It killed 16 people and caused damage in 40 towns, many of which were near Porto Alegre.

The post At least 27 dead, 1,600 homeless in Brazil storm as family seek aid. appeared first on Republic Aeon.

The comparison was clear and had to happen. Nearly two years to the day after the riots in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, thousands of supporters of former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the presidential palace, apex court building, and other seats of state power in Brasilia on Sunday. Violence and destruction happened only a week after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president. President Lula has promised to take action against “vandals, neo-fascists, and fanatics.” He has also put law and order in the capital under the control of the federal government. But what is at stake in Brazil is much more important than what was at stake in the US when Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the legislature and refused to accept that he had lost the election. It has lessons for democracies all over the world about what can happen when elected dictators say, do, and run for office.

Prime Minister #NarendraModi on Monday, expressed deep concerns over reports of rioting in #Brazil by supporters of former president #JairBolsonaro and asserted democratic traditions must be respected by everyone. https://t.co/PONvVG5uHG

— The Hindu (@the_hindu) January 9, 2023

Bolsonaro has always questioned the legitimacy of elections, just like Trump. Basically, if these leaders lose the election, it’s because the polls were “fixed,” but if they win, it’s a victory for the people. But putting elections into question is just the last step in the steady decline of democratic institutions, values, and principles. This starts with questioning the rightful place of the opposition in a government and even other parts of the government, like the judiciary. Often, the elected authoritarian, like Bolsonaro, draws a line between the will of the majority and the values of pluralism. This can be seen in the way that minorities, dissidents, and other people are often accused of being against the state and nation, even though they may just be asking questions about the government.

Bolsonaro has tried to distance himself from the rioters, but he hasn’t come out and said that they are bad people. This is exactly the kind of populist, majoritarian politics that has come to be known as “dog-whistle politics”—adding a wink and a nod to the foot soldiers while paying lip service to the rule of law. This kind of politics is bad for democracy. It teaches a lesson about how democracies can be hurt from the inside. How Brazil’s current government and institutions handle the situation could be used as a model or as a warning.

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