At least 28 people have died “in the past 24 hours” in northeastern Brazil following heavy rains that have been falling since Tuesday in the region of Recife, capital of Pernambuco, authorities said on Saturday. Brazilian state.
“In the past 24 hours, 28 deaths have been recorded,” Civil Defense said in a statement.
The most serious accident occurred early Saturday, when 19 people perished in a “major landslide” in Jardim Monteverde, on the border between Recife and the municipality of Jaboatao dos Guararapes.
Six other people were killed in another landslide in the municipality of Camaragibe. Two died in Recife and another in Jaboatao dos Guararapes.
The latest report shows a total of 33 dead in the state of Pernambuco since the rains began to hit the region overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. “Five other deaths had already occurred during Tuesday’s storm,” said the Civil Defense statement.
The torrential rains also caused the displacement of almost a thousand people due to flooding and landslides.
Videos posted on social media show wide flooded avenues in several municipalities, collapsing houses and landslides.
Between Friday evening and Saturday morning, rainfall reached 236 millimeters in parts of the Pernambuco capital, according to the town hall.
This equates to more than 70% of the precipitation forecast for the entire month of May in the city.
According to the Pernambuco water and climate agency, the situation could worsen, as the rains will continue for the next 24 hours in the state.
Over the past year, hundreds of Brazilians have died in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains.
In February, more than 230 people were killed in the city of Petropolis, the former capital of the Empire of Brazil in the 19th century, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (southeast).
Heavy rainfall had turned streets into rushing rivers and caused landslides in hilly poor neighborhoods that swept away almost everything in their path.
Last month in the same state, 14 people have already died, also in floods and landslides. Among the victims were a mother and her six children, buried alive under a landslide that swept away their home, authorities said.
Because a warmer atmosphere is also wetter, global warming increases the risk and intensity of flooding caused by extreme precipitation events.
