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Brazil: what we know about the floods and landslides that have already claimed more than 100 lives

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At least 104 people have died and 35 are missing in floods and landslides in the tourist town of Petropolis, near Rio de Janeiro.

The toll, still provisional, continued to rise hour by hour the day after torrential rains which transformed the streets of central Petropolis, near Rio de Janeiro, into rivers of mud, flattened houses and overturned dozens of cars in this particularly deadly rainy season in Brazil.

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104 dead and 35 missing

At least 104 people have died and 35 are missing in floods and landslides caused by the worst rains in nearly a century in the tourist town of Petropolis. The authorities of the state of Rio de Janeiro (southeast of Brazil) reassessed it Wednesday evening at “94 confirmed deaths”, while 24 people were declared saved by the rescuers.

The Rio public prosecutor’s office said 35 people had been “registered” as missing in its people locator service, although firefighters and other rescue authorities did not provide a figure. In any case, the balance sheet is still likely to increase in this locality of 300,000 inhabitants.

More than 180 firefighters were in Petropolis, along with some 400 military
AFP – CARL DE SOUZA

Current research

More than 180 firefighters were in Petropolis, along with some 400 military personnel, scouring the muddy ground in this mountain town. The most affected neighborhood is Alto da Serra, a hill that many families descended on Wednesday crying, carrying belongings that they were able to save. “All the people in the street say it looks like a war zone,” said Wendel Pio Lourenço, a 24-year-old resident who has been helping with the rescue since the day before.

New risks

The Brazilian government has warned of a “very high” risk of new landslides in the mountainous region of Rio, “especially in Petropolis”, due to new episodes of rain that threaten in the coming days and could cause new ” floods”.

“State of Calamity”

The city’s schools have been requisitioned to house many homeless families. The mud buried houses and torn sheet metal roofs littered the ground everywhere. The town hall of Petropolis has decreed a “state of calamity” and a three-day mourning.

Worst rains since 1932″

Petropolis received in a few hours Tuesday evening more rain than the average for a whole month of February, according to the meteorological agency MetSul. The governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, estimated during a press conference that fell “the worst rains since 1932”. Brazil has been hit this rainy season with particularly severe rainfall that experts have linked to global warming. Associated in particular in Brazil with an often wild urbanization, favor floods and deadly landslides.

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