Death toll from mudslides and floods in Brazil’s Petropolis rises to 117
Feb 18, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, the death toll from landslides and floods in Brazil’s colonial-era city of Petropolis rose to 117 on Thursday and is expected to rise further as the region is hit by the heaviest rains in nearly a century.
Heavy rains yesterday in the afternoon, when the city recorded about 6 cm (2.36 inches) of rain, further destabilized the soil and hampered efforts to find survivors and clear debris. According to meteorologists, up to 4 cm of rain is expected in the region overnight.
More than 700 people had to flee their homes and seek refuge in local schools and other temporary accommodation. Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro compared Wednesday’s damage to a war zone. Fear and uncertainty grips the city with over a 100 people missing with residents trying to reunite with their loved ones and rescue efforts fail to reach everywhere they are required.
During the day, the local morgue was forced to use a refrigerated truck as a backup as more victims were being brought in while other bodies awaited identification by their families. Leandro Monteiro, head of civil defense in Rio de Janeiro, worked through the night, with low light on wet ground to find the crushed people. She is among more than 500 aid workers, as well as neighbors and relatives of the victims who are still searching for loved ones.
Heavy rains, more than the average for the entire month of February, caused landslides that flooded roads, destroyed homes, washed away cars and buses, and washed away mountains in the area.
The mudslides left gauges hundreds of meters wide along mountain sides. Petropoulis, a mountain resort in the state of Rio de Janeiro, recorded the heaviest rainfall since 1932, known as the “Imperial City” because it was the summer retreat of the Brazilian royal family in the 19th century.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has promised to visit the region on his return from official visits to Russia and Hungary, has promised federal assistance to help the population and begin rebuilding the region. In light of the catastrophe, the Brazilian Ministry of Economy responded by approving tax breaks for both Rio de Janeiro and Esperanto Santo, where the rains also caused damage.
Since December, heavy rains have caused deadly flooding and landslides in most parts of Brazil, threatening to delay harvests and suspend mining in the state of Minas Gerais, just north of Rio.
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