The human toll increased on Saturday, throughout the day. The day before, on the night of Friday to Saturday, six people died as a result of floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in the state of Espirito Santo, in the southeast of Brazil, announced the firemen . At least 80 people had to leave their homes.
The victims are residents of two cities of around 15,000 inhabitants, Iconha (three dead) and Alfredo Chaves (three dead), localities located in rural areas. In this latter commune, two elderly people died after being buried in the mud at their home, following a landslide.
The equivalent of a month of rain
In Alfredo Chaves, nearly 250 mm of water fell during the last 24 hours the equivalent of the precipitation expected for the whole month of January. Impressive images circulating on social networks show totally flooded streets and cars driven by the current. On a video, we can see in particular the brown water rising practically to the roof of a service station.
Material damage was considerable and some residents were isolated because bridges collapsed. The mayor of Iconha told the local daily newspaper A Gazeta that "almost 100% of the shops" had been destroyed by the floods. The governor of the State of Espirito Santo went to Iconha Saturday morning and pledged to bring aid to the disaster victims.
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