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Brazil: Deadly landslides wreak havoc in Petrópolis

Friday, February 18, 2022

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More than 104 people have died in landslides and flash flooding in the Brazilian city of Petrópolis, officials say. The city, which is located in the mountains north of Rio de Janeiro, was hit by torrential rainfall. Petrópolis is a popular tourist destination in the hills above Rio de Janeiro which used to be the summer getaway for Brazil’s monarchs in the 19th Century.

The houses in hillside neighbourhoods were destroyed and cars swept away as floodwaters raced through the city’s streets. Search and rescue teams are combing the mud for survivors.

Brazil’s National Civil Defence said that 24 people had been rescued alive by Wednesday night local time. “The situation is almost like war… Cars hanging from poles, cars overturned, lots of mud and water still,” Rio de Janeiro Governor Cláudio Castro told journalists.

With more than 30 people reported missing, he said that the search and rescue efforts would continue non-stop.  The residents here are holding out hope their loved ones can be found, but it’s a complicated situation with so much mud and rubble to clear. People are watching and waiting patiently.

But after a month’s worth of rain fell on the city in just three hours – the heaviest rainfall since 1932, according to Governor Castro – much of its regal charm lay in ruins, with homes and shops destroyed by the flooding.

In one of the worst-hit neighbourhoods, up to 80 houses were hit by landslides. Petrópolis and the surrounding region were previously hit by severe storms in January 2011, when more than 900 people died in flooding and landslides.

@BBC

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