Brazil's Lula delays state visit to Chile over historic floods

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday put off a state visit to Chile to focus on the historic floods in the south of the country that have left 147 dead.

The presidency said that the trip would no longer take place as scheduled on May 17 and 18, due to the "need to monitor the situation linked to flooding in Rio Grande do Sul and coordinate aid to the affected population and reconstruction efforts."

Torrential rains since the beginning of the month in the southern state have caused rivers to burst their banks, leaving towns and parts of the bustling state capital Porto Alegre under water.

Around two million people have been affected, more than 600,000 of whom were forced from their homes due to the disaster, which experts attribute to climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Official figures show that 127 people are still missing.

Fresh downpours over the weekend in the region led rivers to rise once again, raising fears of further flooding and damage.

"The situation will continue to get worse," the state's governor Eduardo Leite wrote on X.

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