Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Flooding in Rio de Janeiro state kills 79

At least 60 people have been killed after torrential rain caused landslides and flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, officials have said.

Thirty-three people died in Rio de Janeiro city after 28cm (11in) of rain fell in 24 hours, while 33 were killed in the neighbouring city of Niteroi.

Flooding left another 12 people dead in Sao Goncalo, and one in Petropolis.

Rio de Janeiro's governor has declared a state of emergency while the city's mayor has told people to stay indoors.

"The situation is chaos," Mayor Eduardo da Costa Paes said in a statement on Tuesday. "All the major streets of the city are closed because of the floods."

"Each and every person who attempts to enter them will be at enormous risk," he warned.

Mr Paes said the preparedness for heavy rainfall in Brazil's second-largest city - which will host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games - was "less than zero".

State governor Sergio Cabral meanwhile declared a state of emergency and urged people in high-risk areas to leave their homes.

He told TV Globo that to stay inside would be "irresponsible" given the risk of new landslides.

Landslide in the Morro dos Prazeres area of Santa Teresa, Rio de 
Janeiro (6 April 2010)

Civil defence authorities in Rio have issued an alert for landslides

Many of the victims in the city of Rio de Janeiro, including a five-month-old baby and a nine-year-old child, died in landslides in shantytowns, officials said.

The continuous rainfall also forced Santos Dumont airport, which handles domestic flights, to close for two hours on Monday night, causing a number of delays.

Many cars were left abandoned on main roads throughout the city.

The head of Rio de Janeiro's civil defence department told TV Globo the amount of rain that had fallen was "more than any city is capable of supporting"

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