TASS, February 17. The number of victims from mudslides and floods caused by heavy rains in Brazil’s Petropolis has surged to 104, and at least eight of those killed are minors, the Globo TV channel has reported.
Earlier, 94 deaths were reported. According to Globo, as of now 35 people have gone missing, and a search effort is underway. Rescuers have retrieved 24 survivors from the rubble.
The search operation involves 400 rescuers, 200 police officers, as well as military service members and volunteers. Governor of the state of Rio de Jinero, Claudio Castro, has been in the city since Tuesday evening to muster everything possible to clean up the disaster’s aftermath. "It was the heaviest rain [in the city] since 1932," he told journalists.
As previously reported, emergency services received information about almost 190 mudslides and almost 230 minor incidents, 80 residential buildings were damaged, of which at least 54 were completely destroyed. The authorities of the city, where 260 mm of precipitation fell in six hours on Tuesday (more than the monthly norm), declared an official mourning and a state of emergency. Weather forecasters predict more precipitation in the coming day.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently on a visit to Moscow, said on social networks that he had ordered federal assistance to victims of the disaster, as well as a clean-up of the aftereffects, and the military will be engaged in this effort. Bolsonaro is expected to visit Petropolis immediately after returning on Friday from a trip to Russia and Hungary. Russian leader Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences in connection with the tragedy.
Heavy rainfall in the northern, central and southeastern portions of Brazil during the summer period (from late December to late March) is seasonal. It is caused by moisture-laden air brought from the equatorial forests of the Amazon in a south-eastern direction towards the Atlantic Ocean. In January 2020, 66 people were killed in Brazil’s southeast as a result of such a disaster. Since the beginning of the rainy season in November 2021, more than 150 people have died in the states of Bahia, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
In January 2011, as a result of mudslides and floods caused by heavy rains, more than 900 people lost their lives in the mountainous areas of Rio de Janeiro, about 100 went missing, and roughly 35,000 residents were left homeless.