More Rain for Flooded Northern Brazil

Heavy rain across northern Brazil since early April has led to the worstflooding in at least two decades, including the Rio Negro nearing its highestlevel in more than 50 years.The unusual two-month siege of rain has resulted in severe flooding andmudslides in parts of 10 Brazilian states, mainly in the Amazon region, leavingmore than 308,000 people homeless and leading to at least 40 deaths. Thenortheast state of Maranhao has been the hardest hit by the excessive rain andflooding.

A brief break in the heavy rain allowed waters to recede in many areas overthe past couple of days, but some rivers in the jungle state of Amazonas werestill rising.

Flooding last week closed a major iron-ore export railway that runs from thehuge Carajas mine in the jungle state of Paras to the Atlantic port of Sao Luisin Maranhao. The railway, which closed on May 4, finally reopened on Mondayafter 500 workers spent days building dikes and using pumps to remove waterfrom the tracks.

The exact tonnage of ore that was delayed for shipment abroad by theweek-long closure has not been released. Iron ore is the main ingredient insteel.

The recent wet weather pattern will continue across northern Brazil for atleast another week or two. Some of the rain will be heavy and will likely leadto additional flooding.