The World - News from July 21, 1988

Flooding brought on by a week of torrential rains has killed at least 64 people and left more than 60,000 homeless in northeastern Brazil, civil defense workers said. More than one-third of the state of Alagoas has been flooded, pushing at least 50,000 people from their homes. In the neighboring state of Pernambuco, more than 12,000 have been left homeless, a civil defense spokesman said. Officials said that in Maceio, the capital of Alagoas, one doctor is struggling to care for up to 10,000 people in a makeshift refugee camp. At Pilar, 22 miles from the coast, most of the town is under seven feet of water, officials said.