1,000 missing in Brazil floods

Breitbart (Link) - AFP (June 21, 2010)

More than 1,000 people are missing after days of heavy rain and flooding, the governor of Brazil’s northeastern Alagoas state said, voicing fear that the death toll of 35 could skyrocket.

“Up until the early afternoon we had 22 confirmed dead in Alagoas (state) and more than 1,000 people missing,” Alagoas governor Teotonio Vilela Filho said, quoted on the official Agencia Brasil news agency.

“We are praying for the missing to be found alive. But we are very worried because bodies are starting to turn up on beaches and on riverbanks,” Vilela told reporters at a press briefing before meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.