(Brasilia) The torrential rains that have hit the region of Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco (northeastern Brazil) since Tuesday, have killed at least 34 people, including 29 in the past 24 hours, according to a latest report. of Civil Defense.
Posted at 3:33 p.m.
Updated at 6:52 p.m.
“Since Wednesday at noon and until this Saturday, 34 deaths have been recorded in the state”, including 29 “during the last 24 hours”, according to the same source.
More than 1,300 people have lost their homes due to floods and landslides.
President Jair Bolsonaro expressed on Twitter his “condolences and solidarity with the victims of this sad disaster”.
He said he had decided to deploy troops from the Ministry of Defense “to help with relief operations and provide the necessary assistance to the affected families”.
The most serious accident occurred early Saturday, when 19 people perished in a “major landslide” in Jardim Monteverde, on the border between Recife and the municipality of Jaboatao dos Guararapes.
Six other people were killed in another landslide in the municipality of Camaragibe. Two died in Recife and another in Jaboatao dos Guararapes.
A previous toll reported a total of 33 deaths in the state of Pernambuco since the rains began to hit the region overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. “Five other deaths had already occurred during Tuesday’s storm,” said the Civil Defense in a statement.
The situation could get worse
Videos posted on social media show wide flooded avenues in several municipalities, collapsing houses and landslides.
Between Friday evening and Saturday morning, rainfall reached 236 millimeters in parts of the Pernambuco capital, according to the town hall.
This equates to more than 70 percent of the city’s entire May rainfall forecast.
According to the Pernambuco water and climate agency, the situation could worsen as the rains will continue for the next 24 hours in the state.
Over the past year, hundreds of Brazilians have died in floods and landslides caused by heavy rains.
In February, more than 230 people were killed in the city of Petropolis, the former capital of the Empire of Brazil in the 19th century, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (southeast).
Heavy rainfall had turned streets into rushing rivers and caused landslides in hilly poor neighborhoods that swept away almost everything in their path.
Last month in the same state, 14 people have already died, also in floods and landslides. Among the victims were a mother and her six children, buried alive under a landslide that swept away their home, authorities said.
Because a warmer atmosphere is also wetter, global warming increases the risk and intensity of flooding caused by extreme precipitation events.