Dozens dead in Brazil floods, Lula pledges safer housing

As the death toll climbs in Brazil after devastating rainfall, Brazil's leader visited flood-hit areas in the country's southeast on Monday, where many are still missing. President Lula da Silva flew over the coastal town of São Sebastião, where most of the deaths have been reported. He pledged to help rebuild the town of some 91,000 people, and said homes in Brazil should no longer be constructed in areas at risk of landslides and major floods. He also promised the government would restore key infrastructure, like roads ravaged by landslides. More than 2,000 people in Sao Paulo state have been forced from their homes after rains pounded the coast and left behind more than 23 inches of water. Many others remain stranded with roads cut off. Helicopters rescued some from homes now unlivable, taking them to a military base in São Sebastião.

They also brought the bodies of those who had died. This woman says she's lucky to be alive after an avalanche reached one of the walls of her home. The floods were the latest in a series of disasters that recently struck Brazil, where shoddy construction, often on hillsides, regularly leads to tragic consequences during the rainy season. This disaster also struck Brazil's carnival holiday period, when thousands flocked to the region's beaches, likely worsening its human toll.

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