Lula visits area where storm left dozens dead and missing in Brazil

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvavisited this Monday the coastal region of sao paulo where the most intense torrential rains in the country’s history left forty dead and dozens missing during the carnival weekend.

The rescue tasks were concentrated in the extensive municipality of sao sebastiaoa beach destination located about 200 km from the city of sao paulo (southeast) and suffered “record” rains.

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Lula, who was spending a few days off in Bay (northeast), traveled to the site to fly over the disaster zone where landslides swept away at least 50 houses, according to official video.

The City Hall of Sao Sebastiao shows the damage caused by heavy rains in the municipality of Sao Sebastiao, north coast of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 19, 2023. (Photo by the City Hall of Sao Sebastiao / AFP) (-/ )

From the aircraft, rivers of muddy water were visible covering houses near the beaches.

The 77-year-old leftist president, who took office for the third time on January 1, later met with regional and local authorities.

It is important that “let’s not build houses in a place that may be the scene of other rains, where other people may die in a landslide”, he told the media, touching on the problem of improvised urbanism in the country.

In Brazil, 9.5 million people live in areas at risk from landslides or flooding, many of them in favelas, according to the state National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters (Cemaden).

But he also stressed that cooperation between government authorities, from different parties, was a “good photo” for Brazil, which remains in a tense political climate after polarized presidential elections and the attack on January 8 at the headquarters of powers by followers of the far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

In Sao Sebastiao, on whose beaches many people from São Paulo spent the carnival holiday, more than 600 mm of rain fell in 24 hours, more than double what was expected for the month, according to authorities.

The government of Sao Paulo reported that the rainfall on the São Paulo coast marked the highest accumulated in the history of Brazil and one of the “greatest tragedies in history” of that state.

They were 682 millimeters, a figure higher than that of the storm that hit the city of Petropolisin Rio de Janeiro in 2022, with a balance of 241 deaths, and Florianópolis (south) in 1991, where 400 millimeters fell in 24 hours.

View of an area affected by flooding in the Juquehy district in Sao Sebastiao, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on February 20, 2023. (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP) (NELSON ALMEIDA /)

Brazil suffers from frequent extreme events, and scientists do not rule out a link to the effects of climate change.

On Monday evening, the Sao Paulo government raised the death toll to forty: 39 in Sao Sebastiao and a girl in the town of Ubatuba. Meanwhile, dozens of people remained missing.

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In addition, 1,730 evacuated people and 766 homeless were reported, according to the authorities, who deployed more than 600 lifeguards, soldiers, and police in the rescue work.

“I lost everything”

The House of patricia da silvaa 31-year-old domestic worker, was destroyed by the current of mud and stones that fell down the hillside in the early hours of Sunday on the beach of juquehy.

“I’m very sad, disoriented, I don’t even know what to do”, this mother of two girls aged nine and 15 told AFP. “I lost everything”.

“We got scared (…) The glass in the bathroom exploded with the water. We hear the water fall, with trees and stones. The water came in and reached our shoulders“, said Vanessa Cristina Caetano41 years old, who lives with her husband and two children, 23 and 11 years old.

The roads were still blocked in at least ten points, according to the governor Tarcisio de Freitaswho decreed mourning for three days in Sao Paulo and the “state of calamity” in six municipalities to facilitate the deployment of resources.

Freitas assured that due to the large volume of mud on the main beach road it was not possible to determine if “exists” the road in certain sections or was swept away in landslides.

Photograph of an area affected by heavy rains today, in the Juquehy district, in the city of Sao Sebastiao, on the coast of the state of Sao Paulo (Brazil). (Photo: EFE/ Sebastián Moreira) (Sebastiao Moreira/)

The governor released some 7 million reais (about 1.5 million dollars) for rescue efforts.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance announced that it will send some 11 million reais (about 2.2 million dollars) in clothing, footwear and personal hygiene and cleaning items, items seized by customs.

“The rebuilding process will be slow”, indicated the mayor of Sao Sebastiao, Philip Augustus.

Solidarity

Images disseminated by local media and social media users showed rivers of mud and rubble, ruined highways, sunken coastal paths and cars wrecked by fallen trees.

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With carnival celebrations disrupted in the region, local personalities have mobilized to offer help.

The chef Eudes Assis closed his restaurant for three days Taioba Gastronomy to prepare food for the hundreds of people who lost their homes.

“In my 46 years of life, I have never seen anything like it here (…) People lost what little they had. It is a moment of great sadness”, indicated Assis on Instagram.

Source: Elcomercio