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The death toll from floods and devastating landslides in a mountainous area of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has risen to 34 today, local authorities announced.
The city of Petropolis was hit yesterday by heavy flooding after heavy rains and the death toll could still rise, said rescue teams searching amid the rubble.
Rosilene Virgilio, 49, recalled today in tears the calls for help from a woman who could not escape.
“Yesterday a woman was screaming for help ‘Get me out of here!’ “But we could not do anything, water was flowing everywhere, mud was flowing everywhere,” he told The Associated Press.
“Unfortunately our city is devastated.”
Local firefighters said that 180 soldiers had come to help in the hit city, which even in 2011 has seen tragedy from the rainy season.
Officials said 25.8 centimeters of rain had fallen within three hours on Tuesday, almost as much as it had fallen in all the last 30 days.
The images posted on social media showed cars and houses being pulled out of the mud in Petropolis and neighboring areas.
“Neighbors came to the rescue and we sheltered them,” Emerson Torre, 39, a bar owner, told the Associated Press.
But amid the currents, the building collapsed. Torre tells that he managed to save his mother and three people by pulling them out of the grass, but a neighbor of his with his daughter failed to escape.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on a trip to Russia, said on social media that he has instructed ministers to provide immediate assistance to those affected by the tragedy.
“God bless the families of the victims,” he wrote.
Southeastern Brazil has been hit by heavy rains since the beginning of the year and more than 40 deaths have been recorded in several incidents in the states of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, in January alone.
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