Firefighters and volunteers desperately continued to search for people buried under a tide of mud in Petropolis, a tourist city in Brazil, where landslides and floods killed at least 104 people.

The city was still threatened Thursday by new heavy rainfall.

This tragedy once again highlights the risks of unplanned urbanization, with precarious dwellings built on the hillside.

The most affected area is the Alto da Serra district, located on the heights, not far from the historic center of Petropolis where the summer residence of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was located in the 19th century.

Back in pictures on the drama.


Directed by:

Olivier JUSZCZAK

  • Petropolis received in a few hours Tuesday evening the equivalent of a month of rain in February, according to the meteorological agency MetSul.

  • The governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, estimated Wednesday during a press conference in Petropolis that it was about “the worst rains since 1932”.

  • In Petropolis, a tourist city in Brazil, landslides and floods have killed at least 104 people.

  • City of the former summer residence of the Imperial Court, the mud buried many dwellings and sheet metal roofs littered the ground.

  • Cars, swept away by rivers of mud, found themselves with their wheels in the air or piled up on other vehicles.

  • In the streets flown over by rescue helicopters, many residents spoke Thursday morning of missing relatives or neighbors.

  • According to a statement by the Rio prosecutor's office, which called for witnesses, 35 people are missing.

  • Some 500 firefighters resumed their rescue mission early Thursday morning, after an interruption of a few hours in the night due to the instability of the waterlogged soils, in this city of 300,000 inhabitants located 60 km north of Rio de Janeiro. Janeiro (southeast).

  • But the situation threatens to get worse.

    The civil defense issued a notice of "new heavy rains (Thursday) in the evening or next night" and warned that "new alerts can be issued at any time".

  • In the event of heavy rains, "people in high-risk areas should seek refuge in a safe place", warned the Civil Defense, adding that more than 700 people had already been gathered in one of the 33 schools.

  • Petropolis, with its opulent old houses, is a destination that attracts a large number of tourists in search of history, hiking in mountainous nature and a temperate climate.

  • With global warming, the risk of heavy rainfall events increases, according to scientists.

  • These rains, associated in particular in Brazil with an often wild urbanization, favor floods and deadly landslides.

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