When Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew over the floods that have submerged the southern part of his country on Sunday, he surveyed not just the devastation that has left at least 107 people dead and 165,000 displaced, but a defining moment for his presidency.
Along with destruction, natural disasters like the record-breaking deluge that hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul carry tremendous power to reshape a nation’s politics.
In 2005, George W. Bush’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. further dented already-declining approval ratings and caused a double-digit drop in perceptions of his ability to manage a crisis.