A strong storm with "record" rains has caused at least 36 deaths during the carnival weekend on the coast of the state of Sao Paulo, where it is feared that the number of victims will grow, according to what the authorities reported this Sunday.
In the municipality of Sao Sebastiao, located about 200 km from the capital of São Paulo, 35 deaths have been registered so far, according to the state government in a statement at the end of the day. Meanwhile, a girl died in the town of Ubatuba, he added.
"Unfortunately we are going to have many deaths," said the head of the state's Civil Defense, Henguel Pereira, in statements published by the S. Paulo newspaper 'Folha'. In addition, there are some 228 evicted people and 338 evacuees in the coastal region north of the capital, where a state of calamity was declared in five municipalities.
The number of injured and missing has not been specified by the authorities, who are working around the clock to help the victims. The teams "continue during the night (of this Sunday) and early morning with the search, rescue and salvage activities," the Sao Paulo government has indicated.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will visit the affected area this morning, after landing from Bahia around 10 am in Sao Paulo, reports his office.
"Tomorrow (Monday) I will go to Sao Paulo to visit the region and accompany the efforts to face this tragedy," the president, who has been resting since Friday, wrote on Twitter. The scenario is bleak in Sao Sebastiao, where some 50 houses were washed away by water and "there are still people buried," said the mayor, Felipe Augusto.
That municipality, on whose beaches many people from São Paulo spend Carnival day, was the hardest hit: more than 600 mm of rain fell in 24 hours (more than double what was expected for the month), indicates the mayor's office.
Those volumes have been "exceptional and record," said Augusto, who described an "extremely critical" situation. The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) maintains heavy rain alerts in the region until Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the carnival celebrations were interrupted in Sao Sebastiao and other towns.
Images disseminated by local media and users of social networks show entire neighborhoods under water; slopes furrowed by the mud; debris from houses swept away by landslides; sunken roads and cars destroyed by fallen trees, among other signs of the damage. Lula promised in another message on social networks to "bring together all levels of government" to "treat the injured, search for the missing, restore roads, energy and telecommunications connections ".
The damage in sight has not yet been measured. "We have not yet been able to gauge the size of the damage. The priority is to rescue the victims," said Augusto. More than 130 teams with the support of 23 vehicles and seven aircraft are involved in the joint operation of Civil Defense, Military Police, firefighters and the Brazilian army, detailed the state government. Another 80 police officers will join on Monday. Sao Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, who flew over the affected area this Sunday, released 7 million reais (around USD 1.5 million) for rescue efforts.
The national government also made funds available to deal with the emergency. "There will be no shortage of resources," the Minister of Regional Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes, assured GloboNews, who will visit the flooded region on Monday. Amid the images of destruction, The authorities highlighted the rescue of a two-year-old boy who was covered in mud, and a pregnant woman in labor. Brazil suffers the effects of climate change, with increasingly frequent extreme events, such as in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, where more than 230 people died as a result of heavy rains in February 2022.
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