Photo: Fabio Teixeira/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Mudslides that barreled through a Brazilian city Tuesday have left nearly 100 people dead, while many more are still missing.
The New York TimesandNPRreport that 94 people have died after over 10 inches of rain fell in Petropolis, Brazil in just three hours on Tuesday night. The rains led to floods and mudslides, which carried away homes and cars with their force.
Petropolis Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said during a Wednesday news conference that recovery efforts were ongoing, per the latter outlet.
“We don’t yet know the full scale of this,” he said. “It was a hard day, a difficult day.”
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The state fire department said the area was hit with as much rain in three hours Tuesday as they had seen in the past 30 days combined, NPR reports.
“No one could predict rain as hard as this,” Rio de Janeiro Gov. Claudio Castro said during a press conference, adding that Tuesday’s weather brought the worst rain Petropolis had experienced since 1932. About 400 people are now homeless after the natural disaster, Castro added.
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“I lost my niece and her five-year-old daughter, who we still haven’t found,” she said. “We did not expect this tragedy. Our city is over.”
Another resident, 49-year-old Rosilene Virgilio, shared similar sentiments withThe Associated Press, telling the outlet, “Our city unfortunately is finished.”
Virgilio, who was among the many citizens helping with rescue efforts after the mudslides, recalled, “There was a woman screaming, ‘Help! Get me out of here!’ But we couldn’t do anything; the water was gushing out, the mud was gushing out.”
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Petropolis, which is located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, is a German-influenced city popular with tourists seeking a cooler destination during hot summer months, according to the AP.
Because the city was among Rio de Janeiro’s first planned cities, it has become crowded over the years, with newer structures being built amongst the older homes that originally went up along the city’s waterways.
source: people.com
