Americas

Home page

Americas

Brazil Landslides Wipe Away Homes, Killing More Than 300

14 January 2011 03:30 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Walls of earth and water swept away buildings in the mountains northwest of Brazil’s beachfront pearl of Rio de Janeiro, wiping away homes and killing at least 303 residents, while rescuers scrambled to reach still-trapped neighbors, APA reports quoting wsj.com website.
Heavy rains are forecast across the region Thursday, threatening more damage to the already saturated region. The rain is expected to further hamper rescue efforts in the treacherous area, where centuries old cities from Brazil’s days in the Portuguese empire sit perched along steep mountain valleys. Most of the damage is centered on the cities of Novo Friburgo, Petropolis and Teresopolis, state officials said.
Residents ferried the injured down mountain paths using makeshift stretchers cobbled together out of logs and blankets, television images broadcast by the O Globo network showed. Swaths of Teresopolis, a vacation retreat, were covered in mud, trees and boulders.
An elderly woman huddled with her dog amid the ruins of her house, which crumbled as rushing floodwaters battered the walls, O Globo showed. She was thrown a rope and pulled to safety by neighbors in a two-story building, but the tiny dog was ripped from her arms by the raging torrent and disappeared into the churning water. "It looked like the world was ending," a small boy told O Globo.
President Dilma Rousseff was scheduled to fly over the area later Thursday with Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral. Foul weather will likely greet the president on her 13th day in office.
Meteorologists at the Climatempo weather service said light rain was falling over the region early Wednesday, and more rain was likely through Sunday.
"The rain in the mountain region is going to persist," said Climatempo’s Fabiana Weykamp. That’s bad news for a region that has been hit with nearly twice as much rain as normal over the past two months.
So far in January, Novo Friburgo has had 378 millimeters (15 inches) of rain, including about 280 millimeters from midnight Tuesday to 8 a.m. Wednesday. The 30-year average for the city in January is 208 millimeters.
"The volume of rain in Novo Friburgo was absurd," Ms. Weykamp said.
The rainfall followed a wetter than usual December, which is typically the rainiest month for the region, Climatempo data showed. Rainfall in December was 422 millimeters, nearly double the monthly average of 238 millimeters."The soil is extremely saturated," Ms. Weykamp said. "The rain could provoke more landslides. There could be even greater tragedies if they don’t get people out of at-risk areas."
According to state officials, Teresopolis was the hardest hit with 146 deaths. Some 122 people were killed in Nova Friburgo, while Petropolis had 35 victims.
Officials with Rio de Janeiro’s state secretary for health and civil defense said accurate figures were still difficult to come by as communication with the area is difficult. The death toll is expected to continue to rise as more bodies are uncoveredâ€”local news outlets were already reporting a death toll of more than 350.
President Rousseff has already released 780 million reais ($465 million) in federal funds for relief efforts in Rio de Janeiro and neighboring SÃ£o Paulo, which has also been hit by heavy rains this week.
State officials said much of the region remains without electricity, phone and water service. State sewer and water company Cedae was sending water trucks to Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo to supply the region.
The mountain region generates much of its income from tourism and family farms, although textiles and metalworking have also developed in the area.
"The area has thousands of small hotels and restaurants, famous for good food in an area of natural beauty, with mountain trails and a national park," said Michel Lobianco, research assistant at Rio de Janeiro state’s tourism secretariat. "We believe these problems with the rains will frighten away tourists, although it’s difficult to know yet what the longer-term impact will be."
The Brazilian football team’s training center at Granja Comary in Teresopolis is reportedly intact, Mr. Lobianco said.