After heavy rainfall and landslides, at least 23 people died in the mountainous region of the Brazilian coastal metropolis of Rio de Janeiro. This was reported by Brazilian television on Tuesday evening (local time). According to the report, the bodies were found after the level in the flooded city center of Petrópolis dropped. The city was flooded in several places and cars were swept away, it said.
“In Moscow I learned about the tragedy that happened in Petrópolis,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted. He arrived in Russia on Tuesday, where he is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
In the past few weeks, at least ten people have died from landslides and floods in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais. There was also a tragedy when a rock face fell on a tourist boat on Furnas Dam, killing ten people. It was unclear whether the heavy rain had also contributed to the loosening of a large part of the rock.
The state of Bahia, which borders Minas Gerais to the northeast, had previously experienced the worst flooding in more than 30 years. More than 900 people died in a storm in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro in 2011. It was considered the worst storm disaster in the country’s history, which also particularly affected Petrópolis.