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A determined search was underway Friday for folks buried by a deluge of mud that swept by means of the Brazilian metropolis of Petropolis, leaving what President Jair Bolsonaro described as “scenes of struggle.”
A complete of 136 our bodies have been retrieved to this point, in response to civil protection officers, within the usually scenic vacationer city some 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro.
However after three days, hopes of discovering extra survivors have been fading quick. Petropolis mayor Rubens Bomtempo informed a press convention late Friday that “it’s troublesome after a lot time” to search out anybody alive.
On Tuesday, the streets of town have been became torrential rivers of mud that swept away houses, vehicles and timber following the heaviest rains to hit the area since 1932, Rio governor Claudio Castro mentioned.
“We noticed huge destruction, like scenes of struggle,” Bolsonaro informed reporters after his helicopter flyover Friday.
He had headed straight for Petropolis on his return to Brazil after an official go to to Russia and Hungary.
Officers mentioned late Friday that 218 folks have been nonetheless lacking, a few of whom are more likely to be among the many 57 our bodies which are nonetheless unidentified, in response to authorities.
On Friday morning, the alarm bells rang as soon as once more in areas at excessive threat of landslides within the metropolis of 300,000 folks.
“There’s a threat of landslides… watch out, transfer to a protected place,” got here the message over loudhailers amid renewed heavy rain within the early morning, which later subsided.
“Everybody could be very frightened and jumps on the slightest noise,” mentioned Atenor Alves de Alcantara, a 67-year-old retiree whose residence was within the path of the water.
“It’s good that the President is visiting us, but it surely gained’t change something,” he added.
Sense of abandonment
Greater than 500 firefighters with helicopters, excavation equipment and sniffer canine continued the search, at the same time as hope dwindled of discovering anybody alive.
A whole lot of volunteers have been lending a hand to residents digging by means of the mud themselves in a frantic seek for lacking family members.
Within the Alta de Serra neighborhood, 80 homes have been engulfed, and the our bodies of 98 folks have been recovered since Tuesday.
“There may nonetheless be 50 folks below there,” mentioned Roberto Amaral, coordinator of the fireplace brigade’s particular rescue group.
“We wish to end the search as quickly as doable, however we are going to work till the final physique is eliminated,” he added.
Many inhabitants mentioned they felt deserted.
Bolsonaro mentioned folks had the precise to criticize, however “we can not predict all the pieces that may occur in 8.5 million sq. kilometers” (3.3 million sq. miles) — the floor space of Brazil.
“This isn’t the primary time a tragedy has occurred right here,” mentioned the president, including that “we are going to do our half.”
Petropolis and the encircling area have been beforehand hit by extreme storms in January 2011, when greater than 900 folks died in flooding and landslides.
Tuesday’s was the newest in a collection of lethal storms — which consultants say are made worse by local weather change — to hit Brazil prior to now three months.
Final month, torrential downpours triggered floods and landslides that killed at the least 28 folks in southeastern Brazil, primarily in Sao Paulo state.
There have additionally been heavy rains within the northeastern state of Bahia, the place 24 folks died in December.
Pope Francis despatched a message of condolences Friday, and warranted the group in a press release from the Vatican of his “participation within the grief of all those that are bereaved or who’ve been disadvantaged of their possessions.”
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