Brazil flooding, landslides kill at least 36
Flooding and landslides triggered by torrential rain in Brazil claimed at least 36 lives on Carnival weekend in southeast Sao Paulo state, authorities there have said. TV and social media footage from the town of Sao Sebastiao showed entire neighbourhoods under water, debris from hillside houses swept away by oozing earth, flooded highways and cars destroyed by fallen trees, among other damage. At least 35 people died in Sao Sebastiao, the state government said on Sunday. A girl was also killed in the town of Ubatuba, news reports said. "Unfortunately, we are going to have many more deaths," the state civil defence chief, Henguel Pereira, told the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. Another 228 people were left homeless and 338 were evacuated in the coastal region north of the city of Sao Paulo, the state government said earlier, as rescue crews raced to help those hit by the storm. The authorities did not give a figure for how many people were missing or injured. Sao Paulo state governor Tarcisio de Freitas declared a state of emergency in five towns along the coast after flying over areas devastated by the weather. He freed up the equivalent of US$1.5 million for rescue operations. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Twitter that he will visit the area on Monday. He has been on holiday since Friday in the northeast state of Bahia. Sao Sebastiao, 200 kilometres north of Sao Paulo and where many people from the city spend the pre-Lenten holiday weekend on the beach, was hard hit, as a record 60 centimetres of rain fell in 24 hours, city officials said. That is more than twice the amount that normally falls in a month. Carnival events in Sao Sebastiao and elsewhere were cancelled. (AFP)