Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has set aside 200 million reais ($35.5 million) to rebuild highways and roads destroyed by heavy rains that have been affecting large portions of the country this month.
The funds will be used to restore road access in the states of Amazonas, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Para and Sao Paulo, according to a statement from Bolsonaro’s office.
The floods are "impacting thousands of [road] users, and thereby harming the entire local economic chain,” the government said in the statement.
The most critical situation is in the northeastern state of Bahia, where weeks of torrential rain caused two rivers to overflow and bust through two dams over the Christmas weekend. Twenty people have died, 60,000 are homeless, and a total of 470,000 affected, according to the civil defense force. The state is recording the highest accumulated rainfall for December in 32 years, and another ten dams there are being monitored for risk of rupture.
Read More: Dams on Watch After Flooding Kills 18 in Northeastern Brazil
Four members of Bolsonaro’s cabinet have visited the state to monitor the situation. The president, WHO is vacationing on a beach in southern Brazil, told local media Monday that the government would "do what’s possible for our brothers in Bahia.” He is not expected to return to the capital until next week.
Bahia will receive 80 million reais for road reconstruction and more money is expected to be released in the next few days as pressure piles on the president to show his support for the state.
