Recovery efforts began after heavy rain caused deadly flooding and mudslides in a mountainous region of Brazil. Authorities in Petropolis, located in Rio de Janeiro state, upped the death toll to at least 58 on Wednesday. The state fire department said late Tuesday the area received over 10 inches of rain within three hours Tuesday. That’s almost as much as it received during the previous 30 days combined. Video posted on social media Tuesday showed cars being dragged away by mudslides as water flooded through Petropolis and neighboring districts.
“It’s very sad to see people asking for help and having no way of helping, no way of doing anything. It’s desperate, a feeling of loss so big, you have no idea what it’s like go through this,” Petropolis resident Rosilene Virginia said. “Our city is gone, our neighborhood is gone.”
Civilians joined the official recovery efforts early Wednesday. The Globo television network showed houses buried beneath mud in areas firefighters hadn’t yet been able to access. Several streets remained inaccessible as cars and household goods piled up, blocking access to parts of the city at higher elevations.
Rio de Janeiro Gov. Claudio Castro described the efforts as “almost like war” to reporters Wednesday. He said he was mustering all the state government’s heavy machinery to help dig out the areas buried in mud.
Petropolis Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said the number of dead could rise as searchers pick through the wreckage. As of early Wednesday afternoon, 21 people had been recovered alive.
Petropolis’ city hall declared three days of mourning. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro expressed solidarity to those affected by the flooding and mudslides while on a trip to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin.
“May God comfort their family members,” Bolsonaro said Wednesday in a press conference in Moscow.
“On behalf of our delegation, I would like to express condolences for the tragic events which occurred as a result of floods and landslides in the Brazilian city of Petropolis, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, and ask you to convey our condolences to the families of the victims,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov added.
