Floods displace over 250,000 in Paraguay, Brazil

Floods have displaced over 250,000 people from their homes in Paraguay and Brazil, a media report said Tuesday.

In Paraguay, Unicef said that 200,000 people were displaced after heavy rains triggered river floods, Xinhua reported.

According to the UN body, the total number of families displaced was estimated at about 40,000.

Officials have said that Unicef has been working with other aid agencies to ensure basic needs for homeless people, especially children.

Floods have hit nine of Paraguay's 17 provinces, with the capital the hardest hit by the swollen Paraguay River.

Brazil's southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, more than 50,000 people have been displaced by flooding, authorities said.

About 6,000 people have seen their homes damaged by floods or buried under mudslide.

More than 100 towns were affected by heavy rains, with the state of emergency declared in 13 towns in Rio Grande do Sul and 18 in Santa Catarina.

Several federal and state highways in the region were damaged by the floods, and power and water supplies were interrupted in some communities.

Reports said some 12,000 people in Argentina have also been evacuated.

--indo-Asian News Service

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