News
Thousands in peril in Brazil flooding
By: cnn.comPosted On: 01/13/2011 12:09 P
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Thousands of families living on mountain slopes or on river banks in Brazil face "extreme risk" of being washed away in heavy rains and flooding that have killed nearly 400 people.
Thousands of families living on mountain slopes or on river banks in Brazil face "extreme risk" of being washed away in heavy rains and flooding that have killed nearly 400 people.
Officials feared that many more were dead, buried in landslides or washed away by gushing waters. Mud rushed down hillsides and into towns and cities in Rio de Janeiro state, murky brown rivers cutting through lush landscape.
The roofs of houses and tree tops were the only dry things peeking out from the water. People used inflatable rafts or inner tubes to navigate submerged roads. One family filmed by TV sat perched on the roof of their house, wondering how much higher the water would get.
With more rains in the forecast, Brazilian authorities have ordered mandatory evacuations for at least 5,000 families living in especially perilous areas in Rio de Janeiro state, the official Agencia Brasil news agency said Thursday.
Another 3,000 families from a mountainous region were homeless and sheltered in schools and gymnasiums, the news agency said.
"The most important thing right now is to assist the homeless population and reach the most critical points, said Rodrigo Neves, the state secretary of Social Welfare and Human Rights.
The death toll was steadily climbing Thursday with at least 356 people dead in Rio de Janeiro state, civil defense officials said. Of those, 168 were in Nova Friburgo, 152 in Teresopolis and 36 in Petropolis. Teresopolis Mayor Jorge Mario Sedlacek declared his city a natural disaster area.
In neighboring Sao Paulo, at least 24 people died as heavy rain continued to batter parts of the state, authorities said.
Aline Silva told Agencia Brasil that she narrowly escaped with her three children in a landslide Rio de Janeiro's Feu district. She said they heard a thud, and then ran out with a few vital documents and the clothes on their back.
They lost everything else.
Sao Jose dos Campos, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the heavily populated city of Sao Paulo, has been hardest hit by the flooding in that state, a Sao Paulo fire official said. Freiburg was without electricity, water and gas and most businesses remained shuttered Thursday.
The weather also caused delays and cancellations of flights at major Brazilian airports, Agencia Brazil said.
The deluge in this part of Brazil began with the new year and rain is predicted to continue until the end of the week. On Tuesday alone, almost 8 inches of fell in the affected areas. A year ago, heavy rains caused dozens of deaths in Brazil's southeast coast.
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