Devastating mudslides and floods swept away entire neighborhoods in mountains near Rio de Janeiro, killing at least 335 people as rescue workers searched frantically for survivors yesterday.
Villages and homes in the three municipalities north of Rio were flattened by rivers of mud and tumbling rocks spilling from the mountains, GloboNews TV said.
“It’s a huge catastrophe, a major disaster,” Jorge Mario Sedlacek, the mayor of the worst hit town of Teresopolis said.
At least 146 people have been killed in the town, 100km from Rio.
Other officials said the disaster was the worst ever to befall the Serrana, a soaring, lush area that used to be a getaway for 19th-century Brazilian nobility and which is now a tourist spot, especially for Rio residents during the current southern hemisphere summer.
In Nova Friburgo, 140km north of Rio, the number of victims rose to 155, while 34 were killed in Petropolis, GloboNews reported.
At least three firefighters were killed when they were engulfed in tonnes of mud as they tried to rescue victims.
The death toll could rise in the coming hours, a spokesman for the Teresopolis municipality said.
“There are villages in the interior which we haven’t yet reached,” he said.
Officials in Teresopolis said 2,200 people have either lost or had to abandon their homes.
The full extent of the devastation remained unknown because communication and access to the stricken zone was complicated by the destruction of roads and bridges, while telephone service was cut in some areas.
Authorities said they were particularly concerned over the fate of residents in the Campo Grande area of Teresopolis, where Civil Defense teams estimated 2,000 houses had been destroyed and 150 people buried, according to the G1 de Globo Web site. Rescue teams were expected to arrive later yesterday.
The calamity was the first natural disaster facing Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, who took power less than two weeks ago. She was scheduled to fly over the disaster zone in a helicopter later.
At least as much rainwater as the region usually sees in two or three weeks hit the Serrana before dawn on Wednesday, as residents were sleeping in their homes.
The downpour triggered mudslides and caused rivers to burst their banks, carrying away cars, homes and people.
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