Rescue teams worked on Sunday March 24 in pouring rain to help victims of the violent storm and heavy rains that have hit southeastern Brazil since Friday, particularly the states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, leaving at least twenty-five dead.
Two deaths recorded in Apiaca, in Espirito Santo, brought the death toll to seventeen in this state, according to a press release from Civil Protection and Defense. The governor of this state, Renato Casagrande, described a “chaotic situation” in Mimoso do Sul, a town of around 25,000 inhabitants, where at least fifteen people have died from the floods, according to an official toll which could rise further.
On Sunday, however, the water level dropped after a night with virtually no rain, which allowed rescuers to reach previously inaccessible areas, the governor said on social media.
Aerial images of Mimoso do Sul taken on Saturday and released by firefighters showed entire neighborhoods of the city under water, from which only the roofs of houses emerged. In other photos, published by local media, several vehicles, including a fire truck, are swept away by the current.
The storm killed eight people in the neighboring state of Rio de Janeiro between Friday and Saturday, most of them due to landslides in a mountainous region, according to authorities.
The regional government confirmed four deaths in the collapse of a house and a small building in Petrópolis, a tourist town located about seventy kilometers from the state capital.
200 millimeters of rain per day between Friday and Sunday
A team from Agence France-Presse witnessed on Saturday morning the rescue of a little girl who had been buried for sixteen hours under the rubble, and the discovery of her father’s body near her.
“The father heroically protected the little girl with his body and she was saved […] We are in pain, but grateful for this miracle,” Luis Claudio de Souza, neighbor and bar owner, told AFP neighborhood. Other deaths occurred in Teresópolis, Santa Cruz da Serra and Arraial do Cabo, according to the local government. Public schools have been converted into shelters, according to an emergency committee set up by the local government and rescuers.
Strong gusts of wind and intense rainfall also hit the coastline near Sao Paulo, where two children were injured and hospitalized on Friday.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and those affected in a message posted on social media on Saturday evening. Tragedies of this type “are intensifying with climate change,” said the head of state, who highlighted efforts to strengthen disaster prevention and response, and made teams available to collaborate with local governments.
The storm is due to the arrival of a cold front which wreaked havoc mid-week in Rio Grande do Sul, before hitting Sao Paulo and Rio, then reaching Espirito Santo, meteorologists from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet).
Inmet’s forecast had anticipated a “severe” storm, particularly in Rio, with precipitation of 200 millimeters of rain per day between Friday and Sunday. This volume exceeds the historical average of 141.5 millimeters estimated for the entire month of March.
The storm comes after a heatwave in the region, where a felt temperature of 62.3°C was recorded in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
Brazil, which is suffering the effects of climate change, is plagued by repeated natural disasters. More than 230 people died in Petropolis in 2022 following heavy rains.
