World
Torrential rains, mudslides kill scores in Brazil tourist town
The situation is almost like war as cars are hanging from poles and overturned
Brasília: At least 94 people have been killed after heavy rains—causing mudslides—buried homes, flooded the streets and washed away cars and buses in the historic Brazilian mountain town of Petropolis.
According to details, the situation is almost like war as cars are hanging from poles and overturned. Displaced people were being taken to schools and shelters.
Over 300 people had to leave their homes.
The Petropolis’ city hall declared three days of mourning.
Located in the hills above Rio de Janeiro, Petropolis, or the “Imperial City,” was the summer getaway of Brazil’s monarchs in the 19th century. On Wednesday, there was scant evidence of its regal charms, after the floods ravaged its elegant streets and destroyed its Germanic buildings. Rainfall on Tuesday exceeded the average for the entire month of February.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who is traveling to Russia, said on Twitter he had asked ministers to help Petropolis and storm victims.
“We intend to already offer to the mayor what we can,” Bolsonaro told reporters in Moscow, adding that he would release federal funds to help “restore traffic in the region.”
Since December, heavy rains have triggered deadly floods and landslides in northeast Brazil and Sao Paulo state, threatened to delay harvests in the nation’s central western region and briefly forced the suspension of mining operations in the state of Minas Gerais. Experts say such storms are being made worse by climate change.
Castro, the governor, said that he was mustering all the state government’s heavy machinery to help dig out the buried area. He told journalists that soldiers were already working in the stricken region, which saw almost more than 900 deaths from heavy rainfall in January 2011.
Several streets remained inaccessible on Wednesday as cars and household goods piled up, blocking access to higher parts of the city.
Meanwhile, the state fire department said more than 180 soldiers had been deployed while civilians had also joined official recovery efforts.