Within hours, the basement where most of the Nobel Library's stock was kept was flooded to the ceiling.

Thousands of copies were lost.

Children's books, mechanics manuals, thrillers, classics of fantasy literature like "Bilbo, the Hobbitt": all the books were swallowed up by a huge wave of muddy water.

"The water rose up to three meters in the basement, which was flooded very quickly. In the shop, we also had 20 centimeters of water", told AFP the owner of the bookstore, Sandra Correa Neto.

Damaged books are piled up on February 19, 2022 in front of a bookstore in Petropolis, Brazil, whose basement was completely flooded after the torrential rains that killed at least 176 people MAURO PIMENTEL AFP

Since the water level dropped, the books have been piled up on the sidewalk outside the shop and the images have gone viral on social media.

The few books whose pages remain legible "cannot even be given away" because they have been in water for at least 36 hours and could cause infections to readers, warns Ms Correa.

"It's a great pain," she laments, looking sad.

The losses are estimated at around 500,000 reais (around 87,000 euros).

As soon as she learned that the bookstore had lost much of its stock, 18-year-old Petropolis resident Lisa da Costa volunteered to help the owners get their business back on track.

"It's sad to see so many books lost," laments the young girl.

Volunteers help the owners of a bookstore in Petropolis, Brazil, to clean up their business on February 19, 2022 after torrential rains that killed at least 176 people MAURO PIMENTEL AFP

The violent thunderstorms that hit Petropolis last Tuesday turned the streets into torrents of mud and caused landslides that destroyed dozens of houses.

If the human toll is extremely heavy, with 176 confirmed deaths and 112 missing, the material damage is also considerable.

Historical monuments in this city which was the residence of the Imperial Court of Brazil in the 19th century were covered in mud and dozens of vehicles, including buses, were overturned, some swept into the rivers of mud.

In a few hours Tuesday evening, the equivalent of a month of rain fell on Petropolis, a city of 300,000 inhabitants located 60 km north of Rio de Janeiro.

© 2022 AFP