The number of people missing in Petrópolis is 213 and the number of dead reached 140 – of which 97 had been identified until the afternoon of this Saturday, 19. Another 24 people were rescued since the beginning of the operation. Firefighters face difficulties to reach some places, because of the rubble and the risk of new landslides.
City officials and residents work with tractors, excavators, shovels and even with their bare hands to remove rubble, clear streets and try to give some air of normalcy to the mountain town. At least 930 people are homeless.
“There are still a lot of people missing”, notes the licensed captain of the Fire Department Leonardo Farah, who worked on the tragedies in Mariana and Brumadinho and is now voluntarily in Petrópolis.
On the first day after the storm, Farah managed to rescue two people alive from the rubble, a 46-year-old woman and an 11-year-old child. As the days go by, however, the chances of still finding someone alive are slim.
Farah said that it is very difficult for rescue teams to get around and some places where there was a landslide are practically isolated. In addition, he said, in many places there is no cell phone signal. “People are very desperate, wanting help, wanting the firefighters to arrive faster, but access to various regions is very difficult,” he explained. “The city is completely destroyed, completely collapsed. To get to the work front is difficult, often the cars don’t arrive and you have to have ways to get the teams out of there quickly if there is a new slide.”
In the Parish of Santo Antônio do Alto da Serra, which is close to one of the areas most affected by the landslides, dozens of people are sheltered without knowing what the future holds. Two doubts are common to most: if they will ever be able to return to their homes, and what is the whereabouts of friends and neighbors who are listed as missing.
“My neighbor Rosa and her grandson, Davi, are missing,” said 42-year-old Viviane de Souza. “There is also Selma and Gustavo”, she added. She was unable to inform the surnames of these people – in Alto da Serra, the harmonious coexistence between many neighbors did not require formalities.
Viviane herself very nearly ended up being part of the tragic statistics of victims of Tuesday’s landslides. Shortly after the start of the rains, she received a call from her daughter, who lives next door, informing her of a water leak on the third floor.
Then, another daughter, who lives with her, reported that water began to enter from all sides of the house where they were. “I touched the bedroom wall and it made a hole. Then the hole got bigger. I thought: ‘My house is going to fall’. I went out screaming for everyone to get out of the house,” she narrated. “We ran to the gate, and as we started down the street we saw a rock roll down the hill. I started knocking on the neighbor’s door, asking for help. He let me in. I went to the porch on the side of his house and saw all the damage.”
Nearby, Yasmin Kenner Narciso Pereira, 26, experienced a similar drama. “It started to rain and soon after we started to hear the sound of rocks rolling down the hill. We saw houses being torn down. We hear cries for help, help. It was nerve-racking,” she said.
In all, 12 family members who lived in three houses on the same land had to abandon everything. Since that night, they have been housed in the Saint Anthony Parish. “We get lunch, breakfast and afternoon snack. We are very well taken care of. But we really miss home. Our house is missing,” she lamented.
Like almost everyone who lost their homes in the landslides, Yasmin also experiences the anguish of not knowing what happened to many of her neighbors. “The upstairs neighbor, unfortunately, found his body. Another got stuck in the rubble, and it turned out that no one was able to help her that day. It’s all very complicated, but we always have hope”, she pointed out.
The mayor of Petrópolis, Rubens Bomtempo (PSB), said shortly after meeting with the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, that the city’s main priority is the rescue of victims, but highlighted the importance of clearing the roads to facilitate the work of all. , even reconstruction.
“At first, our highest priority is the work fronts to rescue victims. In a second moment, already concomitant, release the main arteries of the municipality to be able to maintain and guarantee essential services, such as return of light, garbage collection, public transport and also to be able to welcome all victims and their families”, commented Bomtempo.
On Friday, the work of cleaning the roads intensified, especially in the region of the historic center of the city of Petrópolis.
know more
+ Omicron: Unexpected symptom of infection in children worries medical teams
+ Mercadão de SP vendors threaten customers with fruit scam
+ Video: Mother is attacked on social media for wearing tight clothes to take her son to school
+ Horoscope: check today’s forecast for your sign
+ What is known about fluorone?
+ Trick to squeeze lemons becomes a craze on social media
+ ‘Monster Ichthyosaur’ is discovered in Colombia
+ One twin became vegan, the other ate meat. Check the result
+ See which were the most stolen cars in SP in 2021
+ Expedition identifies giant squid responsible for ship sinking in 2011
+ US Agency warns: never wash raw chicken meat
#Death #toll #rains #Petrópolis #reaches