Dubai Telegraph - Rescuers scour for survivors after Brazil floods, landslides kill 94

EUR -
AED 3.938479
AFN 73.284283
ALL 98.19234
AMD 417.267449
ANG 1.943348
AOA 978.447316
ARS 1071.53141
AUD 1.629089
AWG 1.930079
AZN 1.82711
BAM 1.955647
BBD 2.17713
BDT 128.849948
BGN 1.9562
BHD 0.406468
BIF 3183.551653
BMD 1.072266
BND 1.425189
BOB 7.467417
BRL 6.152562
BSD 1.078316
BTN 90.972903
BWP 14.300884
BYN 3.528725
BYR 21016.42052
BZD 2.17343
CAD 1.49386
CDF 3073.115756
CHF 0.939162
CLF 0.03726
CLP 1028.119797
CNY 7.698019
CNH 7.63378
COP 4640.937963
CRC 551.556973
CUC 1.072266
CUP 28.415058
CVE 110.256399
CZK 25.259812
DJF 192.015021
DKK 7.459869
DOP 64.934934
DZD 142.958848
EGP 52.835878
ERN 16.083995
ETB 133.503285
FJD 2.399951
FKP 0.820465
GBP 0.830088
GEL 2.916983
GGP 0.820465
GHS 17.683621
GIP 0.820465
GMD 76.671173
GNF 9295.27488
GTQ 8.33535
GYD 225.592402
HKD 8.336174
HNL 27.205878
HRK 7.386875
HTG 141.888931
HUF 407.236454
IDR 16786.168917
ILS 4.020796
IMP 0.820465
INR 90.481213
IQD 1412.489812
IRR 45134.375558
ISK 148.766647
JEP 0.820465
JMD 171.076654
JOD 0.760348
JPY 163.686863
KES 139.08915
KGS 92.433433
KHR 4378.658423
KMF 493.644665
KPW 965.039476
KRW 1499.246878
KWD 0.328832
KYD 0.89853
KZT 530.808592
LAK 23665.153893
LBP 96559.167469
LKR 315.465391
LRD 204.33406
LSL 18.869628
LTL 3.166124
LVL 0.648604
LYD 5.232592
MAD 10.648369
MDL 19.338491
MGA 4988.610841
MKD 61.5252
MMK 3482.679288
MNT 3643.561097
MOP 8.633826
MRU 42.957649
MUR 49.75717
MVR 16.566921
MWK 1869.754141
MXN 21.634265
MYR 4.699212
MZN 68.521819
NAD 18.869628
NGN 1788.626462
NIO 39.676905
NOK 11.794827
NPR 145.556645
NZD 1.797446
OMR 0.412628
PAB 1.078316
PEN 4.044584
PGK 4.328662
PHP 62.679371
PKR 299.424042
PLN 4.325898
PYG 8431.342275
QAR 3.931893
RON 4.977143
RSD 116.980874
RUB 104.99181
RWF 1478.084695
SAR 4.02742
SBD 8.943509
SCR 14.390377
SDG 644.972153
SEK 11.594849
SGD 1.4214
SHP 0.820465
SLE 24.501684
SLL 22484.885861
SOS 616.251927
SRD 37.497551
STD 22193.748611
SVC 9.435264
SYP 2694.101668
SZL 18.864528
THB 36.687634
TJS 11.462006
TMT 3.763655
TND 3.347839
TOP 2.511359
TRY 36.822021
TTD 7.327428
TWD 34.580984
TZS 2878.975413
UAH 44.514627
UGX 3946.692121
USD 1.072266
UYU 45.046486
UZS 13787.924411
VEF 3884341.194834
VES 47.874003
VND 27101.532073
VUV 127.301648
WST 3.003615
XAF 655.905833
XAG 0.031788
XAU 0.000394
XCD 2.897854
XDR 0.808437
XOF 655.905833
XPF 119.331742
YER 267.878982
ZAR 19.79817
ZMK 9651.687743
ZMW 29.35571
ZWL 345.269328
  • RBGPF

    61.4000

    61.4

    +100%

  • RELX

    0.3200

    47.98

    +0.67%

  • NGG

    -0.3600

    63.94

    -0.56%

  • GSK

    -0.3700

    36.29

    -1.02%

  • BTI

    -0.0100

    35.39

    -0.03%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    7.15

    +0.14%

  • AZN

    -0.2000

    64.49

    -0.31%

  • RIO

    -3.0400

    64.43

    -4.72%

  • VOD

    -0.0100

    9.31

    -0.11%

  • CMSC

    0.1600

    24.84

    +0.64%

  • SCS

    0.0600

    13.14

    +0.46%

  • BCC

    1.4700

    142.32

    +1.03%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.53

    +1.18%

  • BP

    -0.8800

    28.93

    -3.04%

  • BCE

    0.3000

    28.37

    +1.06%

  • CMSD

    0.2350

    25.125

    +0.94%

Rescuers scour for survivors after Brazil floods, landslides kill 94
Rescuers scour for survivors after Brazil floods, landslides kill 94

Rescuers scour for survivors after Brazil floods, landslides kill 94

Rescue workers raced against the clock Wednesday searching for any remaining survivors among mud and wreckage after devastating flash floods and landslides hit the picturesque Brazilian city of Petropolis, killing at least 94 people.

Text size:

Streets were turned into torrential rivers and houses swept away Tuesday when heavy storms dumped a month's worth of rain in three hours on the scenic tourist town in the hills north of Rio de Janeiro.

With 35 people still reported missing, fears that the death toll could climb further sent firefighters and volunteers scrambling through the remains of houses washed away in torrents of mud, many of them in impoverished hillside slums.

It is the latest in a series of deadly storms to hit Brazil in the past three months, which experts say are being made worse by climate change.

The state government said at least 24 people had been rescued alive, as it reported the latest death toll Wednesday evening.

Using dogs, excavators and helicopters, rescue workers were urgently searching for more before it was too late, with the Rio Public Prosecutor's office reporting that the 35 missing people had been registered on its missing persons list.

Around 300 people were being housed in shelters, mostly in schools, officials said. Charities called for donations of mattresses, food, water, clothing and face masks for victims.

Wendel Pio Lourenco, a 24-year-old resident, was walking through the street with a television in his arms, heading to a local church in search of shelter.

He said he was trying to save a few possessions, after spending a sleepless night helping search for victims.

"I found a girl who was buried alive," he said.

"Everyone is saying it looks like a war zone."

Governor Claudio Castro said much the same after visiting the scene.

"It looks like a scene from a war. It's incredible," he said, adding that it was the worst rain since 1932.

He praised rescue workers for managing "to save a large number of people before it was too late."

Videos posted on social media from Tuesday's rains showed streets in Petropolis, the 19th-century summer capital of the Brazilian empire, fill with violent floods that swept away cars, trees and nearly everything else in their paths.

Many shops were completely inundated by the rising water, which gushed down the streets of the historic city center, leaving jumbled piles of overturned cars in its wake.

Officials said more than 180 firefighters and other rescue workers were responding to the emergency, aided by 400 soldiers sent in as reinforcements.

City hall declared a "state of disaster" in the city of 300,000 people, which sits 68 kilometers (42 miles) north of Rio.

The city council declared three days of mourning for victims.

- 'Tragedy' -

Petropolis is a popular destination for tourists fleeing the summer heat of Rio.

The area is known for its leafy streets, stately homes, imperial palace -- today a museum -- and the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains.

Tuesday's storms dumped 258 millimeters (10 inches) of rain on the city in three hours, nearly equal to all the rainfall from the previous month, the mayor's office said.

The heaviest downpour had passed, but more moderate rain was expected to continue on and off for several days, authorities said.

President Jair Bolsonaro, on an official trip to Russia, said on Twitter he was keeping abreast of the "tragedy."

"Thank you for your words of solidarity with the people of Petropolis," he told President Vladimir Putin after meeting the Russian leader.

"May God comfort (the victims') families."

Brazil has been swept by heavy rains since December that have caused a series of deadly floods and landslides.

Experts say rainy season downpours are being augmented by La Nina -- the cyclical cooling of the Pacific Ocean -- and by the impact of climate change.

Last month, torrential rain triggered floods and landslides that killed at least 28 people in southeastern Brazil, mostly in Sao Paulo state.

There have also been heavy rains in the northeastern state of Bahia, where 24 people died in December.

Petropolis and the surrounding region were previously hit by severe storms in January 2011, when more than 900 people died in flooding and landslides.

A.Ragab--DT