(Recife) The torrential rains that have caused floods and mudslides since Tuesday in the region of Recife, in northeastern Brazil, have left at least 79 dead and 56 missing, according to the latest official report published on Sunday.
Updated yesterday at 6:34 p.m.
“As of 6 p.m. this Sunday, the death toll as a result of the rain reached 79,” Pernambuco State Civil Defense said in a statement, also reporting 56 missing.
During a lull, some 1,200 men, with helicopters and boats, resumed the search for the missing and isolated people on Sunday.
The storm caused landslides on hillsides, overflowing rivers and large torrents of mud that swept away everything in their path.
Footage released by local authorities on Sunday shows rescuers and volunteers clearing debris in Jardim Monteverde, on the border between Recife and the municipality of Jaboatao dos Guararapes.
Photo Marlon Costa, Associated Press
Between Friday evening and Saturday morning, the volume of precipitation reached 70% of what is normally expected for the whole of May in parts of Pernambuco.
It is in this region where there are slums that the greatest tragedy occurred on Saturday morning, when a landslide killed 19 people.
“Eleven people in my family are dead”
Eleven of those killed in this landslide were relatives of Luiz Estevao Aguiar, questioned in tears by TV Globo.
“My sister died, my brother-in-law died, eleven people in my family died, it was difficult. It was very difficult. I did not expect this,” said the elderly man, who lives in another commune.
Behind him, a human chain of people with their feet sunk in the mud passed buckets of debris rolling down the hill.
Authorities had warned on Saturday that heavy rain was forecast for Sunday, but the storm finally subsided in the morning.
Between Friday evening and Saturday morning, the volume of precipitation reached 70% of what is normally expected for the whole of May in parts of Pernambuco.
“Although it has stopped raining, we are expecting heavy rain in the next few days. The first thing to do is therefore to maintain self-protection measures,” said Regional Development Minister Daniel Ferreira, who flew over the disaster area along with other Brazilian officials.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said he will visit Recife on Monday.
Meteorologist Estael Sias, from the MetSul agency, explained to AFP that the heavy rains affecting Pernambuco and, to a lesser extent, four other states in the north-east of the country, are the result of a phenomenon typical of this time of year, the “eastern waves”. These are, she said, areas of “atmospheric disturbance” that move from the African continent to the Brazilian coastal region.
“In other parts of the Atlantic this instability forms hurricanes, but in northeast Brazil it has the potential to produce a lot of rain including thunderstorms,” he explained.
The images from the weekend recall the tragedy that occurred in February in Petropolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (southeast), where 233 people were killed during torrential rains and mudslides.
According to experts, this type of tragedy can also be explained by the topography of the area and the presence of large slums, with mostly illegally built dwellings in steep risky areas.