The human toll continues to rise on Tuesday, February 21, with 44 people dead and dozens still missing, after the very heavy rains and landslides that hit Brazil on Sunday. "Search and rescue operations continue unabated," Sao Paulo's governor's office said, adding that 1,730 people had been temporarily evacuated from their homes and 760 were left homeless.
Twenty-five people, including six children, are being treated in hospitals, with seven in serious condition. "We don't know what the death toll will be. We may find bodies where we did not imagine," Governor Tarcisio de Freitas told AFP after returning from a helicopter flight over the disaster area. Thirty-eight people remain missing, a figure he said could push the number of people who died in Sunday's deadly mudslides to more than 70.
More than 680 millimeters of rain fell in 24 hours in Sao Sebastiao, a seaside resort about 200 km from Sao Paulo, more than double the monthly rainfall. It is there that 43 deaths have so far been recorded, in addition to that of a little girl further north, in the coastal town of Ubatuba.
In Sao Sebastiao, a tent was erected for a collective vigil in tribute to the victims, while the population helped each other to clean the mud which invaded the houses which did not yield under the pressure.
In the neighboring town of Juquehy, residents still shaken by the storm wiped out over the weekend were tested Tuesday morning by new landslides. About 80 people fled their homes but no casualties were reported, authorities said.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who flew over the disaster area on Monday, warned of the dangers of urban constructions located at the foot of hills, such as those washed away in Sao Sebastiao. Brazil's National Natural Disaster Monitoring and Warning Center (Cemaden) estimates that 9.5 million people live in areas prone to landslides or floods, many of them in favelas lacking basic sanitation infrastructure. .
Authorities urged the evacuation of all non-residents as the National Meteorological Service (Inmet) announced continued downpours in the area throughout the week. Many roads still blocked by landslides force the evacuation of vacationers by boat, while helicopters bring aid and equipment to search areas.
"We couldn't go anywhere anymore. We left the car there and had to come back by boat,” Gabriel Bonavides, a 19-year-old student who was vacationing in a rental house over the long carnival weekend, told AFP.
