(Rio de Janeiro) Eighteen people lost their lives following torrential rains causing landslides and floods in the tourist town of Petropolis, in a mountainous region of the state of Rio de Janeiro (southeast of Brazil ), the fire department said.
Posted at 10:12 p.m.
Updated at 10:36 p.m.
“So far, 18 deaths caused by landslides and floods have been confirmed,” said a statement from the Rio fire department, with more than 180 men on site, 68 km north of the city of Rio. .
Images were already circulating on social networks and in the media, where they saw houses destroyed by landslides in the hills and cars violently carried away by the current.
The town hall of Petropolis, 68 km north of Rio, confirmed the death of two people, a woman and a man, and declared a “state of calamity” to deal with the emergency.
Many businesses were completely inundated by the water which rushed down the streets of the historic center of the city, as seen in videos posted on social networks.
In less than six hours, some points in the city received up to 260 millimeters of water, more than was expected for the whole month of February, according to the meteorological agency MetSul.
Some “120 firefighters are hard at work and 60 others have moved to Petropolis”, said on Twitter the governor of the state, Claudio Castro, who went there to show his support.
The rains have ended, but others, “light to moderate” are expected for the next few hours, warned the town hall.
On an official visit to Russia, President Jair Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter that he was aware of “the tragedy” and asked his ministers to provide “immediate aid to the victims”.
Petropolis, summer residence of the former imperial court, is a tourist destination that attracts a large number of visitors in search of history, nature walks and a more temperate climate than that of the Rio de Janeiro coast. Janeiro, due to its altitude.
In January 2011, more than 900 people perished in the mountainous region of Rio due to heavy rains causing flooding and landslides in a wide area including Petropolis and the neighboring towns of Nova Friburgo, Itaipava and Teresopolis.