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RESCUERS IN SOUTHEASTERN Brazil are scrambling to find survivors among dozens of people still missing after record rainfalls caused flooding and mudslides, killing at least 46 people over the weekend.
680mm of rain, more than double the expected monthly amount, fell in 24 hours alone around the popular beach city of Sao Sebastiao, 200km southeast of Sao Paulo.
The downpour was a record for the area, according to the state government, and the Inmet weather service said rains would continue falling in the region this week.
In recent years, a research partnership between Brazil and the UK has investigated the link between climate change and weather-related risks and impacts in Brazil.
With emergency crews pulling more bodies from the disaster zone, authorities issued an alert through to today for the risk of more landslides in the area.
“Search and rescue work continues uninterrupted” after raging rivers of mud, stones and trees razed precarious houses built on slopes, according to the office of Sao Paulo’s governor.
But the wet weather has complicated the work of some 1,000 search and rescue personnel, backed by 50 vehicles, 14 helicopters and 53 engineering teams.
Late yesterday, the governor’s office raised the death toll from 44 to 46 — all in Sao Sebastiao except for one in the seaside resort of Ubatuba.
“We don’t know where the death toll will end,” Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas told AFP after arriving by helicopter to visit the area.
Officially, 38 people are reported as missing, a figure that will likely push the final number of deaths closer to 70, he said.
Authorities said more than 1,730 people had been temporarily evacuated from their homes while at least 760 were left homeless.
25 people, including six children, were taken to hospital. Seven were in a serious condition.
Sao Sebastiao officials set up a tent for a collective wake for victims.
Residents with shovels and hoes cleaned mud out of their homes as heavy vehicles passed by outside to collect debris.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew over the holiday zone-turned-disaster area Monday and warned about the dangers of improvised urban construction.
An estimated 9.5 million of Brazil’s 215 million people live in areas at high risk of flooding or landslides — often in impoverished favelas.
With many roads still blocked by boulders and mud, some vacationers were evacuated by boat as intense helicopter traffic continued to and from the most affected areas.
The authorities urged tourists to leave the coastal areas and Brazilian media reported that some tourists paid as much as 30,000 reais (almost $6,000) for a helicopter ride out.
“There was no way to go anywhere,” said Gabriel Bonavides, a 19-year-old law student who was spending his holiday in a rented house with friends when disaster struck.
“We left the car there and had to return by boat,” he told AFP.
Residents of nearby Juquehy, still shaken by the weekend storm, spent another night in anguish when rains caused fresh landslides early yesterday. No casualties were reported.
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What about the board member who was forced to step down by all the current board numbers over making the public aware of this in the first place. Will he now be appointed back to the board as it is quite clear he is a man with a moral compass and a ackbone
@Chris Turner: backbone
@Chris Turner: Most likely not. A moral compass and a backbone are surplus to requirements.
What’s the catch ?
@Catherine Mc: Indeed, its way too smooth for my liking..
@Jonny Irish:
Strange, I wouldn’t trust either government or sister’s of charity.
Interesting development but you can be sure as long as a Fine Gael government are involved there will be profits made for private investors at the expense of the Irish state. They just can’t help themselves.
The National Maternity Hospital showed be owned by the State.
I find this very suspect what’s the catch there’s no way nuns are giving in unless their ideology is protected. Also I hope this doesn’t mean that st Michaels existence is at risk. Small hospitals always seem to be target’s
It’s a pity all the people on this were not looking for “The Catch” when the Sisters looked to have the hospital built in 1834.
@Padraig Corcoran: wow, were any of the posters alive in the 1830′s. Perhaps you could look at where the money came from and then comment. Congregations of nuns made profits on the backs of young girls, selling babies and other disgusting practices.
@Paul Fahey: don’t go telling the truth now , you’ll upset the zealots
@Paul Fahey: very literal there Paul. Every citizen of the state was responsible for what happened women and babies in this country.
@Padraig Corcoran: no they were not, but you convince yourself of that to protect your religious masters. No relative of mine ever raped, murdered or sold a child for profit; to the contrary my grandfather was born in a mother and baby home and they beat the shit out of him until they sold him as a farm labourer, aged 8. None of my family were gifted thousands of acres of public land, which they continue to sell for profit until this day. None of my relatives have been bequeathed property and monies by thousands of elderly folk, because they were told it would gain them access to heaven and eternal life, only for them to continue to sell those lands for profit until this day.
@Padraig Corcoran: I think you had a slight misprint there ? I don’t think many were around in 1834….
The Sister of Brutality ,sorry Charity .will be getting millions of Euro ,and as a charity will pay no taxes ,While the main party politicians and the media will praise this “outcome ” What a load of bullshit
Who are the new owners? Would they by any chance be private individuals who are also members of the same Sisters of Charity order and who are holding the property in trust for the Sisters of Charity. Just wondering since nobody has declared who the new owner is and what price the property fetched, Sisters of Charity merely state that they have relinquished control of the property! That may sound crazy but a similar scenario occurred with the transfer of a Cork hospital property some years ago when a congregation of nuns transferred it to some individuals who are members of the same congregation, it’s a handy way of concealing property when it could be valued as means when compensation awards are involved.
We need to get rid of all relegious involvement in this state.
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