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Saturday, January 15, 2011 7:20:28 PM
Brazil faces more pain as 500 die in floods
F6, yes, others most always suffer more.
From correspondents in Rio de Janeiro
AFP .. January 15, 2011 11:36AM
* 55 comments .. * Video.
Brazil braces for more another deluge
Brazilians are bracing for more rain, after walls of muddy water claimed more than 500 lives.
BRAZILIANS are bracing for more rain, fearing further catastophic landslides, after walls of muddy water claimed more than 500 lives in one of the country's worst ever natural disasters.
As rescue teams and residents combed the wreckage of hillside communities near tourist hotspot Rio de Janiero on Friday, forecasters warned the wet weather was likely to last into next week.
"It will keep raining until at least next Wednesday in the Serrana region of Rio de Janeiro. We are predicting a light but steady rain, which is not good because it could lay the conditions for more landslides," the head of national weather institute, Luiz Cavalcanti, said.
He stressed "light but continuous rain is very dangerous" because there is nowhere for it to flow away to and "it accumulates until the earth gives way under its weight and swallows up the hillside."
The bad weather is hampering efforts to reach many small towns and rural areas, cut off after the floods washed away roads and tracks.
Municipal officials and media in the Serrana region, just north of Rio, said at least 506 people were killed when torrents of water swept down hillsides in three towns overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. An estimated 5000 people were left homeless.
Forecasters have said the storms dumped the equivalent of a month's rain on the area in just a few hours, and blamed the unusually wet weather on the La Nina phenomenon that has increased rainfall in south-east Brazil.
The G1 news outlet called it "the biggest climatic tragedy in the history of the country," amid reports that toll had surpassed the 437 people killed in a 1967 mudslide previously considered Brazil's worst disaster.
"The forecast of more rains is not reassuring," said the Rio governor Sergio Cabral, again urging residents to abandon their homes in the disaster zones and move to safer ground.
The catastrophe is the first major challenge facing the new Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sworn into office on January 1.
"It's very overwhelming. The scenes are very shocking," she said after visiting the area Thursday, and pledging "strong action" by her government. It has released $US470 million ($A473.2 million) in initial emergency aid and sent seven tonnes of medical supplies.
Storms dumped the equivalent of a month's rain in just a few hours before dawn on Wednesday, sending mudslides slicing through towns and hamlets, destroying homes, roads and bridges and knocking out telephone and power lines.
The worst affected towns were Nova Friburgo, which recorded 225 deaths, Teresopolis, with 223 deaths, and Petropolis, with 39 deaths. Another 19 fatalities were registered in the village of Sumidouro.
Churches and police stations have been turned into makeshift morgues, the smell of decomposing corpses heavy in the warm air.
Survivors desperate for news swamped the morgues and scrutinised photos to identify the missing. Many of the bodies were those of children, women and old people.
http://www.news.com.au/world/nearly-400-dead-in-brazil-flood-disaster/story-e6frfkyi-1225987531052#ixzz1B9VwgXPN
F6, yes, others most always suffer more.
From correspondents in Rio de Janeiro
AFP .. January 15, 2011 11:36AM
* 55 comments .. * Video.
Brazil braces for more another deluge
Brazilians are bracing for more rain, after walls of muddy water claimed more than 500 lives.
BRAZILIANS are bracing for more rain, fearing further catastophic landslides, after walls of muddy water claimed more than 500 lives in one of the country's worst ever natural disasters.
As rescue teams and residents combed the wreckage of hillside communities near tourist hotspot Rio de Janiero on Friday, forecasters warned the wet weather was likely to last into next week.
"It will keep raining until at least next Wednesday in the Serrana region of Rio de Janeiro. We are predicting a light but steady rain, which is not good because it could lay the conditions for more landslides," the head of national weather institute, Luiz Cavalcanti, said.
He stressed "light but continuous rain is very dangerous" because there is nowhere for it to flow away to and "it accumulates until the earth gives way under its weight and swallows up the hillside."
The bad weather is hampering efforts to reach many small towns and rural areas, cut off after the floods washed away roads and tracks.
Municipal officials and media in the Serrana region, just north of Rio, said at least 506 people were killed when torrents of water swept down hillsides in three towns overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. An estimated 5000 people were left homeless.
Forecasters have said the storms dumped the equivalent of a month's rain on the area in just a few hours, and blamed the unusually wet weather on the La Nina phenomenon that has increased rainfall in south-east Brazil.
The G1 news outlet called it "the biggest climatic tragedy in the history of the country," amid reports that toll had surpassed the 437 people killed in a 1967 mudslide previously considered Brazil's worst disaster.
"The forecast of more rains is not reassuring," said the Rio governor Sergio Cabral, again urging residents to abandon their homes in the disaster zones and move to safer ground.
The catastrophe is the first major challenge facing the new Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sworn into office on January 1.
"It's very overwhelming. The scenes are very shocking," she said after visiting the area Thursday, and pledging "strong action" by her government. It has released $US470 million ($A473.2 million) in initial emergency aid and sent seven tonnes of medical supplies.
Storms dumped the equivalent of a month's rain in just a few hours before dawn on Wednesday, sending mudslides slicing through towns and hamlets, destroying homes, roads and bridges and knocking out telephone and power lines.
The worst affected towns were Nova Friburgo, which recorded 225 deaths, Teresopolis, with 223 deaths, and Petropolis, with 39 deaths. Another 19 fatalities were registered in the village of Sumidouro.
Churches and police stations have been turned into makeshift morgues, the smell of decomposing corpses heavy in the warm air.
Survivors desperate for news swamped the morgues and scrutinised photos to identify the missing. Many of the bodies were those of children, women and old people.
http://www.news.com.au/world/nearly-400-dead-in-brazil-flood-disaster/story-e6frfkyi-1225987531052#ixzz1B9VwgXPN
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