Storms Kill Four In Northeastern Brazil

SAO PAULO, May 2 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- At least four people, including two children, were killed on Friday in Brazil's northeastern state of Pernambuco after heavy rains triggered flooding and landslides, authorities said, reported Xinhua.

Pernambuco's civil defence agency said five others were injured and about 1,500 people were evacuated.

In Recife, the state capital, emergency medical officials confirmed the deaths of a woman and her six-year-old son after a hillside collapsed in the Dois Unidos neighbourhood.

Two more deaths were reported in nearby Olinda, where a 20-year-old woman and her six-month-old son were buried by a landslide in the Alto da Bondade neighbourhood.

Five others were rescued from the same site.

Heavy rains also caused damage in other parts of the Recife metropolitan area and inland municipalities.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was born in Pernambuco, said the federal government would send aid to help set up field hospitals and provide financial support to affected families.

Operations at Recife's international airport were suspended for more than five hours because of the storms.

The inland municipality of Goiana was among the hardest hit, with displaced residents being housed in public schools, according to the state water and climate agency.

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA