As of Sunday afternoon, 56 people had died in the northeastern state of Pernambuco and one died in the neighboring state of Alagoas, according to a message posted on Twitter by the Federal Civil Defense service, which is in charge of emergency management. Another 56 people in Pernambuco were missing. It was the fourth major flooding event in five months, underlining a lack of urban planning in low-income neighborhoods throughout much of Brazil, where shantytowns are often built on hillsides prone to collapse.