The city of Petrópolis, in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, recorded the heaviest rainfall in history in 24 hours. There were 534.4 millimeters of water accumulated in the pluviometric index. In the São Sebastião neighborhood, for example, there were 415 millimeters only in the first ten hours of this Sunday (20).
The number was higher than that recorded in the tragedy of February 15, when it rained on one day more than expected for the whole month. At the time, it was 260 millimeters in 24 hours, and 250 millimeters in just three hours. However, the storm left 233 dead and four people are still missing.
This Monday (21), Petrópolis continues with an indication of high risk for landslides in the first district and there is still a forecast of moderate rain until this Tuesday (22). The Civil Defense Department issued two more SMS alerts for residents in risk areas.
In Sunday’s rain, five people died and four others disappeared, but one was rescued alive. So far, 365 occurrences have been registered, 250 of them due to landslides affecting houses or roads in 19 locations.
The city counts more than a thousand people in shelters, with 298 who were left homeless in the February tragedy and another 839 who went to support points on Sunday.
According to the spokesman for the Fire Department and the State Civil Defense of Rio de Janeiro, Major Fábio Contreiras, since February, teams have continued their search in the city for four victims of the first storm. Now, the corporation is looking for three more residents who disappeared during the heaviest rain in the city’s history.
Angra dos Reis
In the city of Costa Verde, two people also died as a result of storms this Sunday. The rainfall record in Angra dos Reis was the highest in 61 years: 232.8 millimeters in the last 24 hours, according to the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet). The value is above the average forecast for the entire month of March, 206 millimeters.
Firefighters and Civil Defense responded to incidents related to rescuing people from points of flooding and falling trees. The forecast for Tuesday (22) in Angra dos Reis is rain all day.
Source: CNN Brasil
