Houses wrecked by flooding in Brazil's Bahia state

136 cities in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia were in a state of emergency because of flooding on Wednesday due to heavy rains that have been pounding the region since the end of November.

In Bahia, flooding has affected more than 629,000 people. There have been a total of 24 deaths since the beginning of the month because of the rains.This is the heaviest period of rainfall for Bahia in the last 32 years, according to the website of the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters, a government agency. In southern Bahia, it rained more than five times the normal amount for this time of the year.