Dozens of people have lost their lives after heavy rains caused flooding and mudslides in Petropolis, in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.
The Rio de Janeiro Fire and Civil Defense Department released a report and the latest announcement did not detail the exact number of people who were missing. The city experienced more rain in a single afternoon than the historical average for all February based on data released by the Civil Defense of Rio.
Devastating Mudslides
The incident has prompted the municipality to announce a state of public calamity in Petropolis to warn citizens of the risks. Many users posted videos on social media platforms that showed images of strong currents dragging vehicles. Furthermore, records showed that there were 207 calls made to the fire department related to heavy rains.
Rio de Janeiro State Gov. Claudio Castro traveled to Petropolis and announced that firefighters and public employees from other cities would extend help to deal with the effects of heavy rains. One resident, Henrique Pereira, a merchant, who was affected by the incidents, said the flooding came quite suddenly and made it difficult to move around, as per CNN.
The death toll continued to rise until Wednesday as Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said that searchers were still picking through the wreckage left by the floods and mudslides. One resident, 49-year-old Rosilene Virgilio, shed tears while she recalled hearing the pleas of a woman that she was unable to rescue.
In an interview, Virgilio said that she heard a woman screaming for help to get them out. However, she was unable to do anything because of the mud and water gushing out of the building.
NBC News reported that Petropolis, a German-influenced city named after a former emperor, is nestled in the mountains high above the coastal metropolis. It has been nearly two years since the region has become a refuge for people looking to escape the summer heat. Furthermore, it is a place that is popular among the tourists who want to explore the country's "Imperial City."
Recovering From the Incidents
The mudslides on Tuesday tore down dozens of homes built on the hillsides above Petropolis, which was followed by flooding that devastated the area below. The videos of the incident also showed mud sweeping through the streets and uprooting trees.
Brazil's National Meteorological Institute said that the heavy rains which were experienced recently were the most devastating that the city has encountered since 1952. A researcher at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Cassia de Castro Martins Ferreira, who studies extreme weather events in the region, said that the downpour brought an extraordinary amount of water to the city.
For the majority of Petropolis residents, the recent incident reminded them of 2011 when similar mudslides took the lives of more than 900 people in the region. On Wednesday, 22-year-old Carlos Eduardo Ribeiro joined a group of people searching for missing neighbors. She said that she had been pulling children and older people out of the wreckage to keep them from getting hurt, the New York Times reported.
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