The Civil Defense of Petrópolis searches, this morning (21), for missing persons in two locations in the city hit by a strong storm, yesterday afternoon (20). Although with less intensity, the rain has not stopped in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, which makes the work more difficult.
The municipal secretary of Civil Defense, Lieutenant Colonel Gil Kempers, told Brazil Agency that teams are working in Valparaíso and Washington Luiz, but so far there is no information on how many people are missing and if there are fatalities in these places.
“We have no way of knowing. Searches are ongoing and we have no way of knowing whether they are deaths or not,” he told the report, adding that the five deaths recorded so far were in Morro da Oficina, Washington Luiz and downtown.
The secretary informed that, again, the region most affected is the 1st District, which includes the areas of Morro da Oficina and 24 de Maio. In the last 24 hours, 524 millimeters (mm) of rain were recorded, more than during the storm on February 15, which caused 233 deaths.
“Exactly the 1st District and the volume of rain was even higher than the other time, we already have 524 mm in the last 24 hours. We have some records of incidents with victims. At the moment, Fire Department teams are working on site to rescue victims,” said Kempers.
The secretary also informed that the Civil Defense activated the sirens yesterday around 2:20 pm, and that support points for city residents are open, with several people working in support.
All geological risk areas are a matter of concern for the Civil Defense. “The sirens are still on and we ask the population to be alert to any indication of landslides”, said the lieutenant colonel.
In the Rua Teresa region, which was also badly hit in the storm last month, yesterday’s rain caused damage and landslides on 24 de Maio, but according to Kempers there are no reports of casualties because the area had been evacuated yesterday.
Forecast
With the forecast that the rain will remain until the beginning of this night, the recommendation to the population is to avoid transiting through the city.
“A tip for residents is to check, now in the morning, in a better visibility condition, if there are any cracks in the house, if the door is closing properly, if there is a fallen post near your house, a fallen wall. These are indicative, at first, that the soil is working and may have a secondary slip. So, we ask the population, if they observe this type of information, this type of mass movement, to immediately move to a support point”, he recommended.
Traffic
The operation of the buses of the companies Cidade Real, Petro Ita and Cascatinha was completely suspended due to the closure of roads in the city due to flooding, landslides and the fall of poles and trees. The lines of Cidade das Hortênsias operate normally, with the exception of the regions of Ponte de Ferro, Bairro Esperança and Floresta, which have blocked roads.
Turp’s lines have 85% of the operation circulating in the connection between the districts of Posse, Itaipava and the regions of Nogueira and Corrêas to the Center. Some schedules, however, are compromised because some bus drivers were unable to arrive for work.
24 de Maio streets are currently closed; Washington Luiz; Bingen, at the time of the Manoel Torres descent, and the Expeditionaries; the Saudade and Independence roads; the ascent of Sergeant Boening; in addition to Conde D’Eu and Lopes Trovão in the middle of the Serra.
Vaccination
The vaccination campaign against covid-19 was suspended today (21) by the Municipal Health Department. The reason is that mobility is compromised in several parts of the municipality, which prevented the opening of vaccination points.
This Monday, calls and consultations are also suspended at the Collective Health Center, on Rua Santos Dumont, in the City Center.
