Since the rains unleashed at the beginning of October, 19 people have died in the southeastern Brazilian state. Ten more were killed Saturday when a large rock fragment broke free of a ravine and plunged onto four tourist boats in Furnas Lake.
Current counts say 17,237 people have had to abandon their homes or seek refuge because of the storms.
"January has been very difficult for Minas Gerais because of the quantity, and even more so the concentration, of rain in a short amount of time," said the state's vice-governor, Paulo Brant, in a video published on Instagram.
"We should not curse the rain or blame nature. To a large extent the effects are due to past mistakes like the disorderly expansion of cities, and the sedimentation and pollution of rivers," he said.
A mining dam overflowed Saturday, disrupting traffic on a major highway for two days.
The French group Vallourec was fined around $60 million for "environmental damage" three days later, local authorities announced Tuesday.
Of the 853 municipalities in Minas Gerais, 145 are in a state of emergency due to extreme weather.
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