PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) – Rescuers saved a horse on Thursday that had been trapped precariously for two days on a rooftop in a severely flooded town in southern Brazil, television images showed. The horse straddling the roof of a farmhouse was spotted on Wednesday by a TV network helicopter on the outskirts of Canoas, […]
World
Rescuers save horse trapped on rooftop by floods in Brazil
Audio By Carbonatix
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) – Rescuers saved a horse on Thursday that had been trapped precariously for two days on a rooftop in a severely flooded town in southern Brazil, television images showed.
The horse straddling the roof of a farmhouse was spotted on Wednesday by a TV network helicopter on the outskirts of Canoas, a town north of Rio Grande do Sul state capital Porto Alegre.
Canoas Mayor Jorge da Silva called on authorities to save the animal from falling off the roof.
Volunteer rescuers who gathered to try to help the horse said it had been walking in flooded areas for four days. With the help of army vets, the rescuers secured the horse and loaded the animal into a Zodiac inflatable boat to take it to safety.
Unprecedented floods caused by heavy rains in Rio Grande do Sul have killed 107 people, with 136 still missing in inundated towns where streets have turned to rivers.
More than 164,000 people have been displaced and the forecast is for more rain in the next few days.
(Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)