Mourning and Tears in the Imperial City of Petropolis, Brazil
Rescue team looking for bodies in the rubble caused by heavy rains on Tuesday, Feb. 15 in Petropolis, north of Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Tânia Rêgo / Agência Brasil
Petropolis is a municipality located north of the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Founded in 1843 by Emperor Dom Pedro II, it is often referred to as the "Imperial City," as it was his favorite route for moments of leisure and rest.
On Tuesday, Feb. 15, over 100 people died following a torrential storm that covered the city of Petropolis, a city known for its historic buildings and mild climate, in mud. By Thursday, bodies were still waiting to be identified, so a local funeral home had to bring a refrigerated truck as a backup storage measure. The death toll is likely to increase as the number of missing people grows.
More than 20 slip points were recorded across the city of Petropolis. On the Morro da Oficina in Alto da Serra, one of the most affected places, dozens of houses were buried. Calculations say at least 54 houses were destroyed by the rains and over 370 people were forced to leave their homes and stay in shelters or homes of relatives and friends. There are also cases of people who were carried away by flooding in the streets.
Rescue team looking for bodies in the rubble caused by heavy rains on Tuesday, Feb. 15 in Petropolis, north of Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Tânia Rêgo / Agência Brasil
Meteorologist Marcelo Seluchi, coordinator of Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais, said the storm was the largest recorded in the region's history. In just six hours, 260mm of rain was recorded, an amount expected across the entire month. The damage ended up being greater because the rains were so concentrated in the center of the city.
According to Seluchi, the tragedy occurred following a lack of political interest. The day before the storm, the municipal defense received an alert of, "isolated rains throughout the day, which may trigger occasional landslides, especially in mountainous and/or densely urbanized regions." The high-risk areas of the municipality should have been evacuated two days earlier, after the alert was issued, says Paulo Artaxo, vice president of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo.
The Southeast region in Brazil has been facing heavy rains since the beginning of the year, causing high risks of landslides and floods. Petropolis is not alone, a cliff collapsed and killed 10 people in Capitolio in the state of Minas Gerais in early January. As seen this week, the authorities' lack of interest in preventing tragedies has led to waves of disasters and exacerbated the situation.