At least 36 people have died and hundreds have been left homeless due to the heavy rains and flooding in the coastal areas of Brazil’s southeast, São Paulo state authorities said on Sunday. The landslide has also led to the cancellation of carnival celebrations in Sao Paulo state.
On Sunday, the authorities stated that the rescue operation was underway for the victims who had been displaced in the flooding.
The teams are also working on restoring roads that had been blocked.
A 180-day state of emergency has been declared by the state of Sao Paulo for six cities.
The cities of São Sebastião, Ubatuba, Ilhabela, and Bertioga cancelled their Carnival festivities as rescue teams struggle to find those missing, injured, and feared dead.
According to the data shared by the mayor of Ubatuba, a seven-year-old girl is among the people who died in the disastrous flooding.
On Monday, the Sao Paulo governor Tarcisio de Freitas will meet with officials to plan a response to the tragedy.
He said in a statement he requested support from the army, which sent two airplanes and rescue teams to the region.
According to the weather forecast, heavy rains would continue to lash the coastal area of São Paulo, throwing a challenge to the civil defence and the fire department rescue teams.
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Meanwhile, operations at South America’s largest port, Santos, were disrupted amid gusts of wind exceeding 55 kilometres per hour (34 miles per hour) and waves of more than one metre high on Saturday, a local news outlet reported.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on his social media account he will visit the main affected areas on Monday.
*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.
