"Many people see the rain and are traumatized. We've seen how scared people are," said Enio Posti, a firefighter in Porto Alegre, capital of stricken Rio Grande do Sul state.
Heavy rains last week caused rivers in the agricultural state to overflow, leaving 806 injured and 125 missing in addition to those killed, the civil defense agency said.
Of the more than two million people affected by the flooding, more than 537,000 have been forced from their homes with 81,000 in shelters.
More than 92,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the floods, according to the National Confederation of Municipalities.
United Nations experts and the Brazilian government blame climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon for the inundation.
New downpours were expected to be heaviest between Sunday and Monday, and state authorities were warning of the risk of further rising waters and landslides.
"We are still experiencing an emergency situation," Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said in a video on Instagram.
Residents were told to stay away from flooded areas, with dangers including electrocution by downed power lines.
"I was soaked. They helped me and gave me clothes," 36-year-old Everton Machado told AFP after being rescued by boat while searching for his parents.
- Aid distribution -
In the flooded streets of the Sao Joao neighborhood, volunteers and firefighters worked in heavy rain, bringing supplies to residents on jet skis and inflatable boats.
Volunteers were taking pets to shelters, with veterinarians treating those with medical needs.
Military and other security forces were also part of relief efforts. Almost two tons of food and supplies have been distributed by the federal government, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called "the largest movement of donations ever recorded in the history" of Brazil.
The federal government this week promised some $10 billion for reconstruction in Rio Grande do Sul, which is experiencing its worst ever climate disaster.
Water levels in the state's Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, home to 1.4 million people, reached historic levels this week.
On Saturday afternoon, they dropped to 4.57 meters, the lowest level since May 3.
Despite the new rain, residents of Porto Alegre were trying to regain some normalcy, with some shops and restaurants opening.
But with water supplies still disrupted, tanker trucks delivering clean water were a common sight all over town.
Elsewhere, vacuum trucks were pumping muddy floodwater from the streets and buildings.
In recent months, Brazil has been hit by historic floods, record-breaking forest fires, unprecedented heat waves and drought.
Brazil's catastrophic weather spawns spate of conspiracy theories
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) May 11, 2024 -
The climate catastrophe that has struck southern Brazil, killing more than a hundred people and displacing nearly two million, has also spawned a spate of bizarre conspiracy theories, some involving jets' vapor trails and weather antennas in faraway Alaska.
As often happens at times of disaster and great uncertainty, several of these theories have gone viral on social media.
"What's happening in Rio Grande do Sul is definitely not natural," one woman said on the platform known as X. "Let's open our eyes!"
She blamed something called HAARP -- the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program -- a US project that studies the ionosphere using huge antennas in Alaska.
Other people have posted images of airplanes crisscrossing the skies over Brazil's hard-hit state of Rio Grande do Sul, saying the trails of condensation left by jets contain toxic chemicals as part of a secret and nefarious governmental program.
Taken together, the theories paint an ominous picture that somehow denies climate change while blaming governments and scientific institutions that supposedly are orchestrating "planned tragedies" for murky motives.
These theories ignore the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is almost certainly behind a global increase in extreme weather events.
- What scientists say -
Carlos Nobre, who heads Brazil's National Institute of Science and Technology for Climate Change (INCT), listed what scientists believe is behind the disastrous rainfalls of late: a low-pressure system has been blocked by a high-pressure system in the center-west and southeast of the country, causing cold fronts to linger over the region even as water vapor coming flowing in from the Amazon contributed to historic levels of rainfall.
Global warming aggravated this situation, Nobre said, adding, "The warmer atmosphere can store much more water vapor, fueling more frequent and intense episodes of rainfall that lead to disasters like this."
Brazil's government agrees: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared the tragedy an "alert" for the planet.
In contrast, his predecessor -- far-right president Jair Bolsonaro -- weakened environmental enforcement and played down the impact of climate change.
A recent survey by the Quaest polling institute, however, found that virtually all Brazilians believe climate change is at least partly responsible for the disaster in Rio Grande do Sul.
- 'No physical sense' -
Still, conspiracy theories that might once have been brushed aside have gained new life amid the enormous environmental disaster hitting the region.
Social media users are sharing theories discredited years ago in the United States that link extreme weather to "chemtrails" from jets and an alleged covert program at the HAARP project.
One claim is that the government uses jets to spread toxic chemicals which are then activated by the powerful antennas in Alaska, altering the climate and provoking weather disasters.
Yet the process behind jets' "chemtrails" has long been understood: jet engines leave visible trails of condensed water vapor -- plus small amounts of soot and pollutants.
And the HAARP project, originally funded in part by the US military, is now operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where scientists use the antennas for high-power radio transmissions to study the ionosphere, with no ability to manipulate weather.
Nobre, like many other scientists, says the theories about HAARP "make absolutely no physical sense."
"There's no way an instrument in the ionosphere could make weather events more extreme," he said.
- 'What is true' -
Raquel Recuero, who specializes in social communications at the Federal University of Pelotas in Rio Grande do Sul, said the conspiracy theories were likely being spread by organized groups "in search of an audience, monetization and influence."
Such theories find fertile ground when people are desperate for explanations -- however unlikely -- for some deeply worrying phenomenon.
The ideas take root, she added, when they are melded with issues of importance to people, like "political and religious discourse."
But she said that while they tend to reinforce conservative and extremist beliefs, they can't be linked to a single political movement.
Recuero said people's trust in fundamental pillars of democracy is being undercut by these attacks on governmental authorities, scientists and the press, all of them accused of manipulating the truth.
The challenge, she said, is to raise public awareness about what is happening, and help people understand "what is true and what is false."
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