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São Sebastião (Brazil) – Lifeguards advance this Tuesday, February 21, the search for survivors on the coast of São Paulo, where unprecedented rains left at least 44 dead and dozens missing over the weekend, authorities reported.
More than 680 millimeters of rain fell in 24 hours in São Sebastião, a beach destination located about 200 km from the city of São Paulo (southeast). It is the largest uninterrupted cumulative drop in the history of Brazil, according to the state government.
At mid-morning on Tuesday, February 21, the government raised the death toll to 43 in São Sebastião and one in the town of Ubatuba.
“Search and rescue work continues uninterrupted in the region,” where landslides caused by rainfall created rivers of mud, stones and trees that washed away precarious houses built on the slopes, the institution said.
Authorities also reported more than 1,730 people evicted, and another 766 homeless across the state.
At a hospital in the region, 23 people (including five children) were treated, six of whom are still in serious condition.
Meanwhile, in the center of São Sebastião, the authorities erected a tent for a collective wake for the victims, reported the mayor’s office.
Residents of the nearby Juquehy beach, still shaken by the weekend storm, spent another night of anguish when rains caused new landslides early Tuesday morning. Some 80 people left their homes but no victims were reported, according to authorities.
The journey of the evacuees
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva flew over the vacation area turned disaster area on Monday, and warned against improvised urbanism in Brazil, where 9.5 million people live in areas at risk from landslides or floods, according to official figures.
With the routes still blocked by the landslides, some vacationers were evacuated by boat, while intense helicopter traffic continued to go to and from the most affected areas.
“There was no way to go anywhere,” Gabriel Bonavides, who spent his holidays in a rented house with friends, told AFP. “We left the car there and had to go back by boat,” added the 19-year-old law student.
Carrying their few belongings, the evacuees disembarked on the coast, while a short distance away many bathers enjoyed a day at the beach.
