Torrential rains unleash deadly landslide in Brazil, leaving dozens dead and scores missing in Minas Gerais

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Rescuers search through mud and rubble after a landslide in southeastern Brazil, where torrential rains left 30 dead and 39 missing on Tuesday. — AFP pic

JUIZ DE FORA, Feb 25 — Three firemen pulled a man’s body from the mud amidst the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in southeastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.

A river burst its banks and streets became raging currents of brown water in the state of Minas Gerais after the overnight downpour in a region that has seen record rain this month.

State firefighters said 30 people had died in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba. More than 200 people have been rescued.

Firefighters and sniffer dogs worked to find the 39 people still missing in the debris.

In a hillside neighbourhood of Juiz de Fora, 12 houses were swept away in a “massive landslide,” Major Demetrius Goulart of the fire brigade told AFP.

“Many people were inside their homes at night when it was raining,” he said.

Wilton Aparecido de Souza sobbed as he spoke of his 20-year-old son trapped in the debris.

“He was a good boy, he had just finished his military service and he wanted to buy a motorcycle,” the 42-year-old told AFP.

“At least find his body, so I can give him a proper burial.”

Teddy bears in the rubble

Silence hung heavy among dozens of onlookers in the rare moments that the excavators’ engines stopped, broken only by the barking of a panicked dog.

“Almost everyone buried in this mud is family; there’s my sister, my nephew,” said Cleiton Ronan, a 32-year-old warehouse worker.

Earlier, the fire brigade’s Goulart said a boy aged around 10 had been pulled alive from the rubble after a two-hour rescue effort, and many expressed hope that their loved ones would still be found alive.

But, “the longer it goes on, the slimmer the chances of finding survivors become,” Paulo Roberto Bermudes Rezende, a state civil defence coordinator, told AFP.

Volunteers with shovels came to help the firefighters.

“When I dug up children’s belongings—balloons, teddy bears—it broke my heart. I’m a father too... I’m trying to help however I can,” said Atila Mauro, a 33-year-old bricklayer.

Record rainfall

The state fire brigade said the rainfall had led to flooding and landslides, while images shared on social media showed buildings collapsing.

Juiz de Fora’s Mayor Margarida Salomao declared a state of emergency.

“Our focus is to guarantee humanitarian assistance, the restoration of basic services, aid to displaced people, and support for reconstruction,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X.

Salomao said her municipality of a little over half a million people was experiencing its wettest February on record, with 584 millimetres (23 inches) of accumulated rainfall.

An estimated 3,000 people had to leave their homes, the mayor’s office reported.

Some neighbourhoods are isolated, with at least 20 landslides, Salomao said, calling the situation “extreme.”

State authorities suspended classes in all municipal schools.

Brazil has suffered various tragedies in recent years due to extreme weather events ranging from floods to drought and intense heat waves.

In 2024, more than 200 people died and two million were impacted by unprecedented flooding in southern Brazil, one of the worst natural disasters in its history.

Two years earlier, a deluge in the city of Petropolis outside Rio de Janeiro left 241 people dead.

Experts have linked most of these events to the effects of climate change. — AFP