In Brazil at the least 335 people were killed by flooding and mudslides near Rio de Janeiro; 40 people died and 1m were affected by rains in the Philippines; more than 2m people were caught up in a deluge in northern Colombia; a heavy monsoon displaced 200,000 people in Sri Lanka; and Brisbane, the capital of Queensland and Australia’s third- largest  city, was left deserted in the face of raging floodwaters. At least a dozen people died there.

The Economist January 15th 2011