Sao Paulo, (EFE).- At least 36 people died, 228 had to leave their homes and 338 were affected by the heavy rains that punished the northern coast of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, the regional government reported this Sunday.
“The storm caused flooding and landslides” and “some access roads” to the north coast of the state are “blocked due to landslides,” the government of the most populous state in Brazil reported on its social networks.
The governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, decreed a “state of public calamity” for the cities of Sao Sebastiao, Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba, Ilhabelha and Bertioga “which were impacted by the heavy rains that reached the region.”
The regional Military Police, meanwhile, had seven aircraft to rescue victims, transport rescue troops from the Fire Department and Civil Defense and humanitarian aid actions, the information added.
The Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for his part, announced that this Monday he will visit the affected region to “accompany the efforts to confront this tragedy” in coordination with the Government of Sao Paulo, the Ministry of Regional Development and the mayors’ offices .
“We are going to bring together all levels of government and, with the solidarity of society, care for the wounded, search for the missing, and restore roads, energy and telecommunications connections in the region,” Lula said on his Twitter profile.
The Mayor’s Office of Sao Sebastiao, the city with the highest number of victims (35) and which canceled the carnival celebrations, indicated that there are still people among the rubble caused by the landslides.
“It is a scary scene,” the mayor of Sao Sebastiao, Felipe Augusto, recounted on his social networks after visiting a neighborhood where fifty houses collapsed.
The municipal administration manages a figure of 24 deaths in Sao Sebastiao alone, which together with the death of a child under 7 years of age in Ubatuba would bring the number of fatalities to 25.
The floods also submerged residences and vehicles in some neighborhoods of the affected cities.
The volume of rain in the region between Saturday and Sunday exceeded that expected for the entire month in the four most affected cities
