Lula (PT) flew over cities affected by the rains in Maranhão.| Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR- Agência Brasil

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) flew this Sunday morning (9) over some places hit by the heavy rains of recent weeks in the state of Maranhão.

Lula landed at Bacabal airport around 9:30 am. He flew over municipalities such as Pedreiras and Trizidela do Vale, some of the most affected, alongside the state governor, Carlos Brandão (PSB) and government ministers.

In posts on Twitter, the governor of Maranhão said that Lula visited a parish in the city of Bacabal where some people were displaced by the floods.

In a press conference in the early afternoon, Lula said that he went on a “comfort visit” to those affected by the rains before his trip to China, next Tuesday (11). The president spoke of the need for unity between the federal, state and municipal governments in helping victims of the rains and took the opportunity to criticize the previous government.

“You know that we just had a government that, instead of coming here to help Flávio Dino (today Minister of Justice, who until last year was governor of Maranhão), he fought every single day for the press with Flávio Dino and not brought absolutely nothing to the state of Maranhão, except personal offense to the governor”, ​​said Lula.

According to information from the Brazil Agency, since March there have been six deaths recorded because of heavy rains in the state. Entire communities are isolated.

The number of homeless families reaches 7,500 and 35,000 were affected by floods in the state’s 64 municipalities in an emergency situation