Death toll rises to 78 from mudslides after storm in Brazil
PETROPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — The death toll from devastating mudslides and floods that swept through a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state has reached 78, Gov. Claudio Castro said Wednesday afternoon.
The city of Petropolis was slammed by a deluge Tuesday, and Castro said almost 400 people were left homeless. Searchers picked through the wreckage throughout the day and 21 people were recovered alive.
Civilians joined official recovery efforts. Among them were Priscila Neves and her siblings, who looked through the mud for any sign of their disappeared parents, but found only clothing. Neves told The Associated Press she had given up hope of finding her parents alive.
And Rosilene Virgilio, 49, was in tears as she recalled the desperate pleas from someone she couldn't save.
“There was a woman screaming, ‘Help! Get me out of here!’ But we couldn’t do anything; the water was gushing out, the mud was gushing out,” Virgilio told The Associated Press. “Our city unfortunately is finished.”
Petropolis is a German-influenced city named for a former Brazilian emperor. Nestled in the mountains above the coastal metropolis, for almost two centuries it has been a refuge for people escaping summer heat and tourists keen to explore the so-called “Imperial City.”
Petropolis was among the nation's first planned cities and features stately homes along its waterways. But its population has grown haphazardly, climbing mountainsides now covered with small residences packed tightly together. Many are in areas unfit for structures and rendered more vulnerable by deforestation and inadequate drainage.
The stricken mountain region has seen similar catastrophes in recent decades, including one that caused more than 900 deaths. In the years since, Petropolis presented a plan to reduce risks of landslides, but works have been advancing only slowly.
The governor told reporters earlier that the situation “was almost like war” and that he was mustering all the state government's heavy machinery to help dig out the buried area.
The state fire department said late Tuesday the area received 25.8 centimeters (just over 10 inches) of rain within three hours Tuesday -- almost as much as during the previous 30 days combined. Petropolis' civil defense authority said moderate rain was expected Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Video posted on social media Tuesday showed cars and houses being dragged away by landslides, and water swirling through Petropolis and neighboring districts. On Wednesday, houses were buried beneath mud while appliances and cars were piled on streets where they had been swept the night before. Some people had attempted to flee the perilous hillsides.
“The neighbors came down running and I gave them shelter,” bar owner Emerson Torre, 39, recalled.
But under torrents of water, his roof collapsed. He managed to get his mother and three other people out of the bar in time, but one neighbor and the person's daughter were unable to escape.
“It was like an avalanche, it fell all at once. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Torre told the AP as rescue helicopters hovered overhead. “Every neighbor has lost a loved one, has lost two, three, four members of the same family, kids.”
Petropolis' city hall declared three days of mourning. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro expressed solidarity while on a trip to Russia, as did his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“May God comfort their family members,” Bolsonaro said Wednesday in a press conference in Moscow.
Southeastern Brazil has been punished with heavy rains since the start of the year, with more than 40 deaths recorded between incidents in Minas Gerais state in early January and Sao Paulo state later the same month.
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Associated Press journalist Diarlei Rodrigues reported this story in Petropolis and AP writer David Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro. AP writer Diane Jeantet in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
Diarlei Rodrigues And David Biller, The Associated Press
Despair, solidarity for Brazil storm victims
Louis GENOT
Wed, February 16, 2022
Holding the few possessions they are able to carry, families stream down the slopes of the hillside neighborhood of Alto da Serra, many in tears, fleeing the devastation left by deadly landslides in the Brazilian city of Petropolis.
Their modest neighborhood was one of the hardest hit by Tuesday's storms, which dumped a month's worth of rain on this scenic tourist town in a matter of hours, triggering flash floods and torrents of mud that gushed violently through the city.
"It's devastating. We never could have imagined something like this," says one fleeing resident, Elisabeth Lourenco, clutching two bags in which she stuffed some clothing when emergency officials ordered everyone in the neighborhood to evacuate.
"When the rain was falling hardest, a huge amount of mud came pouring down the hillside, and some tree branches fell on my house," says the 32-year-old manicurist, on the verge of tears.
Nearby is a scene of total chaos. A giant swathe of hillside is covered in mud and strewn with the remains of shattered houses.
Authorities say the disaster killed at least 78 people across the city. There are fears the death toll, which rose steadily through the day, could climb further still as rescue workers continue digging through the mud and ruins.
Watching the rescue operation in disbelief, residents shudder with each deafening pass of the helicopters hovering overhead.
"I was eating dinner when the storm started. My brother came in and said, 'We need to get out of here, the hillside is collapsing,'" says Jeronimo Leonardo, 47, whose home sits at the edge of the area wiped out by the landslide.
- 'Up to our waists' -
Residents of Alto da Serra have been evacuated to a church that sits atop another hill nearby.
From the square outside the small blue building, they can see the disaster zone through the mist.
Dozens of families swarm the church, carting their belongings in bags.
Outside, volunteers unload a truck of bottled water, as others sort through donated clothing.
"Can I have some shoes?" asks a little boy standing barefoot, his clothes stained with mud.
Inside, mattresses line the floor.
"We started taking people in as soon as the tragedy started Tuesday evening. We're hosting around 150 to 200 people, including a lot of children," says Father Celestino, a parish priest.
Yasmin Kennia Narciso, a 26-year-old teacher's assistant, is sitting on a mattress nursing her nine-month-old baby.
"I didn't sleep all night," she says.
She tells the story of how she fled with her two daughters around 11:00 pm.
"We tried to leave earlier, but there were boulders strewn across the path and everything was flooded. We were in water up to our waists. We had no choice but to wait until it went down," she says.
She adds that she is still waiting for news on several neighbors.
"An older lady and her three grandchildren who lived just above us were buried in the mud."
Survivors know they likely face a long wait to learn if and when they can return home -- for those who still have homes left.
lg/jhb/caw
Louis GENOT
Wed, February 16, 2022
Holding the few possessions they are able to carry, families stream down the slopes of the hillside neighborhood of Alto da Serra, many in tears, fleeing the devastation left by deadly landslides in the Brazilian city of Petropolis.
Their modest neighborhood was one of the hardest hit by Tuesday's storms, which dumped a month's worth of rain on this scenic tourist town in a matter of hours, triggering flash floods and torrents of mud that gushed violently through the city.
"It's devastating. We never could have imagined something like this," says one fleeing resident, Elisabeth Lourenco, clutching two bags in which she stuffed some clothing when emergency officials ordered everyone in the neighborhood to evacuate.
"When the rain was falling hardest, a huge amount of mud came pouring down the hillside, and some tree branches fell on my house," says the 32-year-old manicurist, on the verge of tears.
Nearby is a scene of total chaos. A giant swathe of hillside is covered in mud and strewn with the remains of shattered houses.
Authorities say the disaster killed at least 78 people across the city. There are fears the death toll, which rose steadily through the day, could climb further still as rescue workers continue digging through the mud and ruins.
Watching the rescue operation in disbelief, residents shudder with each deafening pass of the helicopters hovering overhead.
"I was eating dinner when the storm started. My brother came in and said, 'We need to get out of here, the hillside is collapsing,'" says Jeronimo Leonardo, 47, whose home sits at the edge of the area wiped out by the landslide.
- 'Up to our waists' -
Residents of Alto da Serra have been evacuated to a church that sits atop another hill nearby.
From the square outside the small blue building, they can see the disaster zone through the mist.
Dozens of families swarm the church, carting their belongings in bags.
Outside, volunteers unload a truck of bottled water, as others sort through donated clothing.
"Can I have some shoes?" asks a little boy standing barefoot, his clothes stained with mud.
Inside, mattresses line the floor.
"We started taking people in as soon as the tragedy started Tuesday evening. We're hosting around 150 to 200 people, including a lot of children," says Father Celestino, a parish priest.
Yasmin Kennia Narciso, a 26-year-old teacher's assistant, is sitting on a mattress nursing her nine-month-old baby.
"I didn't sleep all night," she says.
She tells the story of how she fled with her two daughters around 11:00 pm.
"We tried to leave earlier, but there were boulders strewn across the path and everything was flooded. We were in water up to our waists. We had no choice but to wait until it went down," she says.
She adds that she is still waiting for news on several neighbors.
"An older lady and her three grandchildren who lived just above us were buried in the mud."
Survivors know they likely face a long wait to learn if and when they can return home -- for those who still have homes left.
lg/jhb/caw
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