Brazil deluge kills 36, search continues for dozens missing
Published:Monday | February 20, 2023 | 1:49 PM
SAO SEBASTIO, Brazil (AP) — Hundreds of rescuers searched Monday for survivors of landslides and flooding that killed at least 36 people along the coast of Brazil's southern state of Sao Paulo following a huge weekend downpour.
Worst hit was the city of Sao Sebastiao, where at least 35 were dead.
In neighbouring Ubatuba a seven-year-old girl was killed.
The disaster, in an area famous for beaches flanked by mountains, prompted cancellations in many cities of the Carnival festivities now in full swing elsewhere in the country.
Governor Tarcisio de Freitas told television network Globo that another 40 people were missing.
Nearly 800 people were homeless and 1,730 people have been displaced, his state government said in a statement.
Television footage showed flooded homes with only their roofs visible. Residents used small boats to carry items and people to elevated positions.
Members of the armed forces joined the search and rescue efforts, aggravated by poor access to many areas after landslides blocked the snaking roads in the region's highlands and floods washed away chunks of pavement in low-lying and oceanfront areas.
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