COLOMBIA / BRASIL: Raw Flooding Video.

AP/ YOUTUBE 1:55

    Colombia is experiencing its longest rainy season in the past 40 years.
   "This is the worst natural tragedy in memory," said President Juan Manuel Santos."Colombia is bigger than the adversity it faces."

AND:   So far, 12 have died from landslides in southern Brasil. At least, 40,000 people have been affected by heavy rains with hundreds left homeless. Seven cities in Rio Grande do Sul (pictured above) have declared states of emergency.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13185499

BRASIL: Floods Kill 10, Send 31,000 Fleeing In Sta. Catarina, Parana And Rio Grande do Sul.

CNN
   At least 10 are reported dead with 31,000 people forced from homes in Santa Catarina, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul states after heavy rains. (2008 flooding foto)

BRASIL: Still Searching For Top Models...In Rio Grande do Sul.

NYTIMES/      Model talent scouts say that more than 70% of Brasil's models come from just 3 southern states-- areas that don't reflect the nation's melting pot where more than half the population is nonwhite. Many are scouting down there, seeking to find the next Gisele Bündchen, who was the world’s top earning model in 1994. More than half of Brasil’s models are found on the farms in Rio Grande do Sul, with only one-twentieth of the population, colonized predominantly by Germans and Italians.

Brasil Hit by High Winds And Heavy Rains.

GLOBAL VOICES ONLINE With Several PIX/
"The past week was marked by violent storm in many Brazilian states. Seven people died in the southern Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, while four people died in a São Paulo slum after a mudslide swept into a slum last Tuesday. Thousands of people have been made homeless across the country. The photos below have been taken in different places of the country and shared under Creative Commons licenses on Flickr."