The violent storm that has battered since Thursday over the state of Minas Gerais, in the south-east of Brazil, has left at least thirty dead and seventeen missing, Civil Defense announced on Saturday. According to this new assessment (the previous one reported eleven killed), these exceptional bad weather also left seven injured and displaced more than 3,500 people in thirty affected cities.
Those who died were victims of landslides and the destruction of homes caused by record floods and precipitation. Images from local TVs show landslides, buried houses, uprooted trees and utility poles, flooding rivers and neighborhoods flooded by this storm, which also affects the neighboring states of Rio and Espirito Santo.
The heaviest rainfall ever recorded
On Friday, two children and two adults lost their lives in the collapse of two homes in Ibirite. Two other people died in the collapse of homes in the Vila Bernardete district of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Four other people died in Belo Horizonte, and one in Contagem.
The National Meteorological Institute said it recorded the heaviest precipitation ever measured in 24 hours since the start of the measurements 110 years ago. Between 9 a.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday, 171.8 millimeters of rain were recorded at Belo Horizonte, a record. The rains continued on Saturday.
A week ago, six people died as a result of floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in the state of Espirito Santo, in southeast Brazil.
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Brazil: Six people die after torrential rain
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