Death Toll Jumps to 48 in Brazil as Heavy Rain Causes Landslides

Lumbasio Holman

Death toll jumps to 48, dozens missing in south-eastern São Paulo state as the rescue mission searches for bodies in the rubble of homes affected by landslides.

According to the Guardian and News Agencies, Search and rescue teams raced to find dozens of people who were missing after heavy rains devastated coastal areas of Brazil’s South-Eastern São Paulo state, as the official death toll rose to 48.

Death Toll Jumps to 48 in Brazil as Heavy Rain Causes Landslides — PHOTO/Nelson Almeida-AFP: Rescue personnel transport the body of a victim after flooding in Barra do Sahy, São Sebastiao in Brazil.

“We are currently working with a tally of at least 38 missing people,” the São Paulo governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, told reporters on Wednesday, February 22 as weather forecasters cautioned for more rain.

Massive downpours have caused landslides and flooding in coastal towns of Brazil’s richest state, which has so far been hard hit by more than 600mm (23.6 inches) of rain, the highest cumulative figure ever in the country.

The number of casualties rose from 46 a day earlier, the São Paulo state government said in a statement.

Rescue operations were continuing and firefighters, police, and volunteers still hoped to find people alive in the rubble of houses slammed by the landslides.

Due to the incident, 1,730 people have been displaced and 1,810 left homeless, according to the São Paulo state government.

The city of São Sebastiao, located about 200 kilometres (124.3 miles) from São Paulo, bore the brunt of the human toll, with 47 of the reported deaths. But nearby towns such as Ilhabela, Caraguatatuba, Bertioga, and Ubatuba were also affected.

The state government said more rain was expected on Wednesday as a new cold front favours the formation of heavy clouds over the region, with “moderate to heavy showers” forecast to fall until early evening, after a cloudy morning.

Key roads such as the Mogi-Bertioga and Rio-Santos highways remained blocked due to landslides, the government added, while state-run water company Sabesp managed to restore supply to the region.

Government and private aid groups, on the other hand, were scrambling to provide critical necessities, but the logistics of reaching the isolated towns were creating difficulties.

The homeless are being sheltered in schools, kindergartens, and churches in São Sebastiao. About 7.5 tonnes of aid items including food, water, and hygiene kits have already been distributed to the victims, according to the state government of São Paulo.

But not all aid has reached its intended destination, with criminals taking advantage of the chaos and looting trucks carrying donations, De Freitas told the G1 News Agencies.

Brazil’s Environment Minister, Marina Silva, visited Barra do Sahy on Wednesday, a district of the hardest-hit mountainous coastal municipality of São Sebastiao. While there, he was confronted by a local resident, Resident Reuri Nascimento, who told Silva he removed 22 bodies using his quad bike.

He complained that victims of the floods and landslides had been abandoned and said supplies were not reaching them.

“Why are not the police here to help us? There is food trafficking, we do not know where the food is going,” he said.

Silva said president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government was working to improve the situation.

“We are going to have to work to adapt the city, focusing on the poorest who are those who live near the hillside,” Silva stated.

The floods in coastal São Paulo state were the latest in a series of such disasters to recently strike Brazil, where poor-quality construction, often on hillsides, can have tragic consequences during the country’s rainy season.