Brasilia:
Torrential rains in northeastern Brazil have killed at least 44 people and left dozens missing, the government said on Sunday, as rescue teams capitalized on torrential rains to search for survivors.
“We recorded 44 dead, 56 missing, 25 injured, 3,957 without shelter and 533 displaced,” Regional Development Minister Daniel Ferreira told a news conference in Recife, the capital of northeastern Pernambuco state.
The disaster is the latest in a series of deadly landslides and floods caused by inclement weather in Brazil recently.
The death toll had risen from 34 since Saturday, with at least 28 killed in landslides as rivers were in spate due to heavy rains and torrents of mud washed away everything in their path.
Officials warned that heavy rain was expected to continue on Sunday, but the storm subsided in the morning.
State officials said some 1,200 personnel resumed search and rescue operations as the weather worsened, but Ferreira urged caution.
“Though the rains have stopped now, we are predicting heavy rains in the next few days,” he said.
“So the first thing is to maintain self-protective measures.”
Between Friday night and Saturday morning, the amount of rain in parts of Recife reached 70 percent of all forecasts for May.
‘Tragedy’
Images circulated in local media showed rescue workers and volunteers clearing a pile of rubble at Jardim Monteverde, on the border between Recife and the municipality of Jabatao dos Guararapes, where a landslide on Saturday morning killed 19 which had torn through precariously built houses.
He told TV Globo that Luiz Estevao Aguiar, who lived in a different municipality, lost 11 relatives in the disaster.
“My sister, my brother-in-law, 11 people in my family died. It was difficult… I didn’t expect it,” he said tearfully.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday he would visit Recife on Monday after a “tragedy”.
Over the past year, hundreds of Brazilians have died in floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains.
In February, more than 230 people were killed in the city of Petropolis, the 19th-century summer capital of the then Kingdom of Brazil, in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
At the beginning of last month, 14 more people had died in floods and landslides in the state.
Experts say Brazil’s rainy season is being exacerbated by La Nia – the cyclical cooling of the Pacific Ocean – and climate change.
Because warmer environments hold more water, extreme rainfall from global warming increases the risk and intensity of flooding.
The risk of heavy rain is increased by poor construction in huts built on topography and steep terrain.
The heavy rains in Pernambuco and, to a lesser extent, four other northeastern states, are the product of a specific weather phenomenon called “easterly waves”, according to Metsul agency meteorologist Estelle Sias.
He explained that they are areas of “atmospheric disturbance” that move from Africa to the northeastern coastal region of Brazil.
“In other regions of the Atlantic this instability creates hurricanes, but in northeastern Brazil it has the potential for very high rain and even thunderstorms,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)