According to the news released by the municipal government of Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as of 20:30 local time on the 17th, the floods and mudslides caused by this heavy rain have caused 117 deaths, and 116 people are still missing.
Most of the victims were women. So far, 65 women and 36 men, including 13 children, have been identified as victims.
In addition, only 33 bodies have been identified so far.
At present, the local weather conditions are still very unstable. Two sudden heavy rains fell on the afternoon of the 17th, which greatly increased the risk of floods and mudslides again.
The civil defense department sounded the alarm 14 times in the hardest-hit areas, and the search and rescue activities to find missing persons were forced to suspend many times to ensure the safety of rescuers.
Local researchers said that climate change, local geological characteristics and lack of planning for urban land were three important factors that triggered the disaster and caused heavy casualties.
First, as global climate change intensifies, rainy seasons have become shorter and more concentrated in Brazil's southeastern coastal areas in recent years.
According to data from the Meteorological Department, the single-day rainfall in the local area on the 15th reached the highest single-day rainfall in the region in the past 100 years.
Second, because the local area belongs to mountainous terrain, landslides often occur after rainfall in areas lacking vegetation.
Third, in the absence of unified urban planning, residents of local slums occupying land and building houses at the foot of the hills in the suburbs of the city have great potential safety hazards.
This is not the first time such a disaster has occurred in towns in the mountains of Rio state.
Hundreds of people have been killed in similar disasters in the region over the past decade as climate change intensifies.
Local researchers believe that if the government does not take effective measures to improve urban planning and improve prevention, similar disasters are likely to happen again.
(Headquarters reporter Yan Shu)