Brasília, January 13: Days of devastating mudslides and floods have killed more than 240 people in a mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian officials said. Rescue operations in the area north of Rio known as the Serrana were suspended late on Wednesday because of darkness and dangerous conditions. At least three firemen were killed when they were engulfed in tons of mud as they tried to carry a rescue.
The full extent of the devastation was unknown because communication and access to the stricken zone was made difficult after roads and bridges were destroyed, and telephone service was cut in some areas.
Officials said the disaster was the worst ever to befall the Serrana, a soaring, lush area that used to be a getaway for 19th century Brazilian nobility and which is now a tourist spot for Rio residents during the current southern hemisphere summer.
“It’s a huge catastrophe, a major disaster,” the mayor of the worst-hit town of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario Sedlacek, told the GloboNews television station.
His town counted at least 122 deaths on Wednesday, according to a tally given to the mayor’s office.
Rio state deputy governor Luiz Fernando Pezao told the G1 news website that another 107 people died in nearby Nova Friburgo, including the firemen killed.
Petropolis, in the same region, suffered at least 18 deaths, a municipal official there told AFP. But officials told local media that the figure was likely to grow.
At least as much rain water as the region usually sees in two or three weeks hit the Serrana before dawn on Wednesday, as residents were sleeping in their homes.
The downpour triggered mudslides and caused rivers to overflow, carrying away cars, homes and people.
Meteorologists blamed the extraordinary precipitation on a cold front that intensified the already heavy wet season southeast Brazil experiences every summer.
That cold front moved through Sao Paulo early in the week, leaving at least 13 deaths in its wake, before moving on to Rio de Janeiro state.
More rain was forecast in the coming days.
The total death toll for the week, including those killed in Sao Paulo, was at least 260.
There were fears the toll could climb still further on Thursday when rescue workers reach remote hamlets.
The calamity was the first natural disaster to be faced by Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, who took power less than two weeks ago.
Her government has released 420 million dollars in emergency aid to help the rain-hit region, and she was scheduled to fly over the disaster zone on Thursday in a helicopter.
The health ministry announced it was also sending seven tons of medicine including antibiotics, blood pressure remedies, masks and syringes — enough to last 45,000 people a month.
—-Agencies