Brazil rains death toll hits 46 and still counting
Copyright 2001 Reuters
December 27, 2001
Story by Andrei Khalip
RIO DE JANEIRO - Torrential rains that killed at least 46 people on Christmas Eve in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state hit the area again yesterday, hampering rescue efforts and dashing hopes of finding dozens of missing people alive.
"There are practically no hopes left (to find survivors). Heavy downpour is also putting the lives of rescue workers and volunteers in danger as it can provoke new mudslides," said a duty officer at the state Civil Defense Department.
Nearly all the victims and 38 missing were in hillside settlements, many of which were practically washed down by rains and mudslides, burying entire families in their flimsy homes under tonnes of thick brown mud, rubble and garbage.
Television footage showed desperate relatives of the missing helping to dig through the mud with their hands amid the ruins that still bore Christmas decorations on what used to be walls.
"I lived through a really hard moment.... If it had not been for my niece who unearthed me, I would have been dead now," said Lenir Cabral, a housewife who was buried in a mudslide.
Over a thousand people were left homeless. On the plains, a number of small towns and city districts remained flooded, with people using boats or floating cupboards to ferry their belongings to a dry place.
In the mountainous region of Petropolis - a popular weekend retreat about an hour's drive from Rio de Janeiro - 28 people have died in mudslides.
"The situation is very critical in Petropolis," said Rio de Janeiro Gov. Anthony Garotinho, who has been visiting the affected areas since Tuesday. "There are many people missing and the death toll may rise as many bodies are buried there."
In Rio's own hillside "favela" shanty towns, a total of five people died as their houses collapsed.
Officials said the rains that started on Sunday triggered the worst natural disaster in the state since 1996, when 59 people died from a similar tragedy. In 1966, rains and mudslides killed more than 100 people in the state.
Health services were on the alert to prevent any outbreaks of disease after sewage and garbage mixed with rain water flooded the streets.
Garotinho urged quick federal aid to the state, complaining that after last year's less devastating rains, Rio still had not received any of the promised 7 million reais ($3 million).
Meteorologists expect light showers to continue over the next few days.