President Lula interrupted his days off and visited the affected areas, where he promised to rebuild the destroyed homes and called for building in “safe” places, away from risk areas.
Brazil mobilized hundreds of troops this Monday to find possible survivors of the strong storm that hits the coast of São Paulo and which has so far caused 40 deaths, around 40 missing and almost 2,500 evacuees, in addition to numerous material damages in this tourist region.
The intense rainfall over the weekend caused severe flooding and landslides, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake in half a dozen São Paulo municipalities, which had received dozens of tourists for Carnival these days.
He Government of Sao Paulo He described the disaster as “one of the greatest tragedies in the history” of the region, which came to accumulate a record level of rainfall in the country of 682 millimeters in less than 24 hours.
Communities isolated and without temporary water in Brazil
Many communities continue to be isolated by land, incommunicado and without a water supply or electricity, while “more than 600 troops” from the Fire Department, the Police, the Armed Forces and Civil Defense are busy in the rescue work, according to sources. officers.
The Government of Sao Paulo, chaired by Tarcisio de Freitas, former Minister of Infrastructure of the Government of Jair Bolsonaro, decreed a “state of public calamity” in six cities: São Sebastião, Caraguatatuba, Guarujá, Bertioga, Ilhabela and Ubatuba.
Nearly 2,500 people have been forced to leave their homes and are housed in schools and civil society organizations. Among the dozens of injured, there are six in serious condition, according to the Sao Paulo Health Secretariat.
São Sebastião, which has about 100,000 inhabitants, was the town hardest hit by torrential rains. There, 39 of the 40 deceased were registered and it is where the work to search for the disappeared is focused.
The other reported fatality is a 7-year-old girl, who died after a huge stone fell on her residence, in Ubatuba.
Lula suspends vacations to visit areas affected by storm
He President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva interrupted his rest days in the state of Bahia and today visited the affected areas, where he promised to rebuild the destroyed homes and called for building in “safe” places, away from risk areas.
“You are going to have a nest again to take care of your families,” the president assured the affected families during a statement in Sao Sebastiao.
The Head of State also wanted to send a message of unity alongside the governor Tarcisio de Freitas, an ally of the now ultra-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, who during his tenure was criticized on several occasions for not going or going late to areas hit by climate tragedies.
In the midst of this climate of cordiality, Lula asked the municipal authorities to find a safe area to “reconstruct” the houses that were buried or were seriously damaged.
“From time to time, nature surprises us, but many times we also defy it,” which is why we must think “of a safe place so that we can begin to rebuild the homes of the town of Sao Sebastiao,” said the progressive leader, accompanied of a dozen of his ministers.
For his part, De Freitas warned that they still do not know the exact extent of the damage to the highway that connects the cities of Santos and Rio de Janeiro, since the storm may have torn away large stretches of asphalt, given the amount of displaced earth.
According to the latest meteorological bulletin, the storm should lose strength as of this Monday, although the rainfall is expected to continue, which could make rescue efforts difficult due to the risk of new landslides.
More intense storms forecast in Brazil
Storms in the southeastern region of Brazil during this time of year are usually common, but in recent years they are more intense and destructive.
In 2022, similar disasters caused by heavy rains took place in Brazil, with thousands of evacuees and hundreds of fatalities in the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In the city of Petrópolis alone, in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, an intense storm left some 240 dead in February of last year.