The death toll from the rains, avalanches and floods that are recorded this weekend in the state of Pernambucoin northeastern Brazil, amounted to 56, while another 56 people are missing, reported a statement from Civil Defense.
According to the bulletin of the update on the climatic and building tragedy in the state capital, Recife, and its metropolitan region, they were counted 56 missing, 3,957 evacuees and 593 people rescued alive by rescue teams from the rubble and into the waters.
In Recifeone of the most important tourist spots in Brazil, and the municipalities that surround it were registered desperate scenes with hills disintegrating due to heavy rains, washing away houses in the favelas.
Middle-class and upper-class neighborhoods such as Boa Viagem or Pina are also affected by the floods, to the point that the main shopping malls in Recife had to close as a result of the water entering their facilities.
The state of Pernambuco decreed the state of emergency in nine municipalities.
A delegation from the national government arrived in the disaster area this Sunday: the Minister of Regional Development, Daniel Ferreira, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, the Minister of Citizenship, Ronaldo Benton, and the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Brito.
The Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, promised to visit the state of Pernambuco this Monday to internalize the tragedy.
The rain that has been recorded since Wednesday in part of the northeast region of Brazil also affects other neighboring states such as Alagoas.
The Army, firefighters and neighbors searched this Sunday among the rubble and mud to missing persons.
TV Globo showed the case of Luis Estevao Aguiarfrom Jardim Monte Verde, between Recife and the neighboring municipality of Jabotao de Guararapes, where the international airport of Pernambuco is located, one of the most thriving states in the northeast of Brazil and one of the most important tourist spots in the country.
“I lost my sister, my brother-in-law and a total of 11 relatives. No one expected this”said the young man in an interview commenting on how an avalanche destroyed the favela where his relatives lived.
The government of the state of Pernambuco reported that the most critical points are seven landslides that destroyed favelas and neighborhoods as a result of the force of the torrents.
Brazil is registering in Pernambuco a tragedy linked to rains and landslides, the second on a large scale in 2022.
The February 15 andin the city of Petropolisin the mountains of Rio de Janeiro, the rains, avalanches and floods provoked 233 deceased.
