He also noted that the country has recently experienced similar disasters in the mountains above Rio de Janeiro, in the south of the state of Bahia and in the state of Minas Gerais.

“Unfortunately, these disasters are happening in a country the size of a continent,” he said. “We are all obviously sad. We express our sympathy to the family members. Our greatest objective is to comfort the families and also, with material means, to take care of the population.

The government is preparing to make funds available to municipalities that have declared a state of emergency, Daniel Ferreira, Minister of Regional Development, said at the press conference. He also highlighted a new line of credit available for cities affected by such disasters.

Experts say climate change is contributing to more intense rainfall, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has ranked the Recife metropolitan area as one of the most vulnerable cities in the world. The low-lying metropolitan area is located in the delta of three rivers, features floodplains and a network of dozens of canals, and is home to some 4 million people.

In March, Recife became the first city in Latin America to sign up to participate in a program aimed at create insurance against climate disasters created by a network of local and regional governments and funded by the German development bank KfW.

The state’s Civil Defense Authority said in a statement that the flooding displaced 5,000 people from their homes and heightened its alert of the still high risk of landslides. The rain continued, although with less intensity.