Beginning on 24 December 2021, record rainfall across the northeastern Brazilian state

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

have resulted in severe floods. 21 people were killed, while 358 were injured and 62,800 were displaced. In a tweet,

Rui Costa Rui Manuel César Costa (; born 29 March 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who is the 34th president of sports club S.L. Benfica. He also succeeded Luís Filipe Vieira as president of the club's SAD board of directors. ...

, the Governor of Bahia, declared the floods to be "the worst disaster that has ever occurred in the history of Bahia". 72 municipalities of Bahia declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

. Total rainfall at the state capital

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during December exceeded on 24 December, five times the historic average. On 26 December, the Bahia state government and Brazilian federal government, along with cooperation from other state governments, mounted a joint rescue operation to victims at the affected areas. Two dams collapsed between 25 and 26 December, at Jussiape and

Itambé Itambé is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the Northeast Region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Bahia This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Bahia (BA), located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Bahia i ...

respectively. The town of

Vitória da Conquista Vitória da Conquista is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in Bahia, Brazil, that has a population of approximately 341,000 people as of 2020, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Ge ...

was heavily affected. Southern Bahia had been badly flooded earlier the same month by

Subtropical Storm Ubá Subtropical Storm Ubá was the fourth tropical or subtropical cyclone to form in the South Atlantic Ocean in 2021. Ubá originated from an area of low pressure that formed off the coast of Rio de Janeiro and evolved into a subtropical cyclone on ...

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medicines and vaccines were destroyed by the flooding.

References

2020s floods in Brazil 2021 disasters in Brazil 2021 floods 2021 meteorology Late December 2021 floods December 2021 events in Brazil {{flood-stub