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Atleast 34 killed in Brazil mudslides
Brazil, Dec 10: Mudslides triggered by torrential rains slashed through this southeastern city, burying houses and killing at least 34 people, firefighters have said.
Brazil, Dec 10: Mudslides triggered by torrential rains slashed through this southeastern city, burying houses and killing at least 34 people, firefighters
have said.
Some 1,500 people were driven from their homes by the torrent of water and mud in Angra Dos Reis yesterday, a city of about 60,000 tucked between mountains and the Atlantic Ocean 160 kilometers west of Rio De Janeiro. "The numbers could rise a little but we don't expect it to grow much more than this," said Col Sergio Simoes of the local fire department, which led the search for survivors and victims.
The city's mayor, Fernando Jordao, declared a state of public calamity as the rain continued to fall yesterday.
"It's not torrential rain like earlier, but it's still raining," he said in a radio interview. "I've never seen anything like it in 20 years in Angra Dos Reis."
In 24 hours, the city got more than 5 inches of rain --nearly as much as the average rainfall for two weeks, the national weather institute in Rio said.
Hardest hit was the poor district of Areal near the Japuida river, which breached its banks and provoked a mudslide that covered at least 10 houses. Most of the houses were little more than shacks built on hillsides.
Dozens of firefighters waded through thigh-high red mud near the site where a hillside slipped away, ripping out trees and burying entire families, according to residents.
Bureau Report
Some 1,500 people were driven from their homes by the torrent of water and mud in Angra Dos Reis yesterday, a city of about 60,000 tucked between mountains and the Atlantic Ocean 160 kilometers west of Rio De Janeiro. "The numbers could rise a little but we don't expect it to grow much more than this," said Col Sergio Simoes of the local fire department, which led the search for survivors and victims.
The city's mayor, Fernando Jordao, declared a state of public calamity as the rain continued to fall yesterday.
"It's not torrential rain like earlier, but it's still raining," he said in a radio interview. "I've never seen anything like it in 20 years in Angra Dos Reis."
In 24 hours, the city got more than 5 inches of rain --nearly as much as the average rainfall for two weeks, the national weather institute in Rio said.
Hardest hit was the poor district of Areal near the Japuida river, which breached its banks and provoked a mudslide that covered at least 10 houses. Most of the houses were little more than shacks built on hillsides.
Dozens of firefighters waded through thigh-high red mud near the site where a hillside slipped away, ripping out trees and burying entire families, according to residents.
Bureau Report