The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvamet this Monday with the governor of San Pablo, the bolsonarista Tarcisio de Freitasto discuss emergency measures against the ravages caused by the torrential rains that hit the region and left at least 36 dead and 40 missing during the carnival weekend, on which occasion he stressed that “the common good is much more important than any disagreement.”
Before meeting with the governor, Lula flew over the areas affected by the rains by helicopter on Monday morning, accompanied by the chief of staff, Rui Costa, according to the newspaper O Globo, the DPA news agency reported.
“The common good of people is much more important than any disagreement we may have. We are together to face the situation and help the population”Lula indicated on his official Twitter profile.
The Brazilian president conveyed to De Freitas his desire to return with a group of ministers to “assume a government commitment” to Sao Sebastiao, the municipality most affected by the rains, and stressed: “We will work together with the city council.”
Before the media, Lula maintained that it is important that “we do not build houses in a place that could be the scene of other rains, where other people could die in a landslide,” AFP reported.
In Brazil, 9.5 million people live in areas at risk from landslides or floodsmany of them in favelas, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters of Brazil (Cemaden).
For his part, De Freitas announced that his government decreed three days of official mourning on Monday for the rainfall that affected the towns on the north coast of São Paulo.
While, the federal government promulgated the state of disaster in Guarujá, Bertioga, Sao Sebastiao, Caraguatatuba, Ilhabela and Ubatuba.
The common good of the world is much more important than any divergence that we have. We are together to face the situation and help the population of the coast of São Paulo.
– Lula (@LulaOficial) February 20, 2023
The regional government of São Paulo reiterated in its latest report the provisional balance of 36 deaths from the day before: 35 in Sao Sebastiao and a girl in the town of Ubatuba.
The seaside resort of Sao Sebastiao, located some 200 km from the capital of São Paulo, was the most affected by the “record” rainfall, which caused flooding and landslides and destroyed at least 50 houses.
De Freitas flew over the affected area yesterday and decreed a “state of calamity” in those and four other municipalities to facilitate the deployment of resources, according to the AFP agency.
In addition, it freed some seven million reais (around 1.5 million dollars) for rescue tasks while the national government also provided available funds to attend to the emergency.
Michelle Cesar, from the São Paulo fire department, indicated in an interview with CNN Brazil that “close to 40 people were not located.”
Fiz questão to come here and draw up a group of ministers, to assume a commitment of government with São Sebastião. We are going to recover the Rio-Santos road. And we can no longer build houses in places of risk. Let’s work together with the prefecture.
– Lula (@LulaOficial) February 20, 2023
The same body reported 14 injured who were rescued.
Also, there are some 1,730 people evacuated and 766 homelessreported the authorities, who deploy more than 600 lifeguards, military and police in rescue work.
Lula arrived at mid-morning this Monday to the state from Bahia, where he was spending a few days off, TV Globo reported.
The president, in power since January 1, promised 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 municipality of Sao Sebastiao, on whose beaches many São Paulo residents spent the carnival holiday, was the hardest hit. More than 600 millimeters of rain fell there in 24 hours (more than double what was expected for the month), according to the authorities.
Images disseminated by local media and social media users showed rivers of mud and rubble, flooded highways, sunken coastal roads and cars destroyed by fallen trees, among other evidence of the damage.
“What happened was a phenomenon of nature that we had not seen for many years,” said Roberto Farina, director of communications for the Civil Defense of the state of São Paulo.
Half a thousand lifeguards, military and police work in the rescue work, with the support of 31 machines, seven helicopters and two planes, detailed the state government.
The Ministry of Health announced the shipment of medicines and supplies to the affected areas, some of them cut off from communication by the landslides.
