Heavy rains and almost 200 landslides left at least 44 dead in the former Brazilian imperial city of Petrópolisturned this Wednesday into a “scene of war”.
“It’s almost a war situation,” said Cláudio Castro, governor of Rio de Janeiro (southeast), in the disaster area.
The government reported at least 44 deaths while local authorities reported 189 slidesafter the storm that occurred on Tuesday afternoon in the city located 68 km north of Rio.
Rescue teams were working on the spot to help those affected by landslides and floods, AFP journalists confirmed.
In Petrópolis, houses were reduced to rubble on devastated hillsides and vehicles piled up in streets of water and mud.
Videos viralized on social networks showed shocking images of some Petrópolis roads turned into fast-flowing rivers dragging everything as it goes.
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Wendel Pio Lourenço, a 24-year-old resident, was walking with a television in his arms towards a nearby church in search of refuge, after leaving his house “condemned” by the stones that surround it.
Without having slept, he collaborated in the rescues and tried to save some belongings. “I found a girl alive who was buried,” she told AFP.
The church of Santo Antonio, close to the disaster area, opened its doors to welcome more than 150 people, evacuated from their homes due to flooding or the danger of landslides because of the storm.
“Many of those who arrive have lost everything, or lost their relatives, it’s a difficult situation,” Celestino, the church’s pastor, told AFP.
So far, some 80 homes have been affected in the town of Morro da Oficina and in another six areas damage was recorded, estimated the municipal authorities in a note.
Some 300 people are being cared for mainly in schools, added the local government, which decreed a state of calamity.
Some 400 soldiers are working on relief tasks at the scene together with Civil Defense teams and firefighters, with dogs, 4×4 vehicles, boats and a dozen aircraft, sources from the state fire force told AFP.
“No one expected it, it was desperate, very sad. I have friends who are missing,” said Elisabete Pio Lourenço, 32.
Traveling to Russia, President Jair Bolsonaro wished that “God comfort the relatives” of the victims of the “catastrophe” in Petrópolis, in a joint press conference with the host, Vladimir Putin, whom he thanked for his solidarity in the face of what happened. .
The Minister of Regional Development, Rogério Marinho, assured that the president will be “on site” on Friday.
extreme events
Some points of Petrópolis received up to 260 millimeters of rain in less than six hours, a volume higher than the historical average for all of February (240 mm), according to the MetSul meteorological agency.
“The accumulated rainfall (…) is unusual,” said meteorologist Estael Sias in a note on the MetSul site, where she assures that this disaster “is neither the first nor will it be the last,” given the climatic, topographical and and population of the region.
Brazil has experienced episodes of intense rains in the last three months, especially in the states of Bahia (northeast) and Minas Gerais (southeast), which have left dozens dead and caused damage to hundreds of municipalities.
Scientists maintain that due to climate change, extreme weather events will become more and more frequent.
In January 2011, more than 900 people died in the mountainous region of Rio state due to heavy rains, which caused floods and landslides in a vast area, including Petrópolis and its neighbors Nova Friburgo, Itaipava and Teresópolis.
Petrópolis, summer resort of the former Brazilian Imperial Court, is a tourist town of about 300,000 inhabitants that attracts a large number of tourists in search of history, nature walks and a milder climate compared to coastal Rio de Janeiro, due to its elevation.
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