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image source, Archyde.com
Burial of one of the victims of the landslides in Petrópolis, Debora Listenberg, 22, and her children Heloise, 2, and Gustavo, 5.
When the heavy rains began, Giselli Carvalho hurried back home.
She was worried about her mother and her 1-year-old daughter, Helena.
On the way, Giselli met a neighbor who gave her some devastating news: the family home had been leveled by one of the many landslides that hit the Brazilian city of Petrópolis on February 15.
That day it rained in the city 259.8 millimeters in 24 hours, more than the usual rainfall for the entire month, and the highest volume since records began in 1932.
The deluge caused landslides that killed more than 100 people, including at least eight children, according to Brazil’s National Civil Defense.
“It took me nine years to get pregnant because I wanted to raise my daughter well,” Giselli told Brazilian news channel Globo TV.
“I was only able to enjoy my baby’s company for a little over a year“, lament.
“I keep thinking it’s a nightmare and I’m going to wake up and see Helena here with me,” she added through tears.
When the landslide occurred, Giselli’s niece, María Carminante, was also in the house, located in the Morro da Oficina favela, in the Alto da Serra neighborhood, one of the most devastated by the rains. The three bodies were found together on a sofa..
image source, Archyde.com
On February 15, it rained in the city in a few hours the equivalent of what is usual for the entire month, the largest volume in one day recorded since 1932.
The search for bodies continued on Thursday, with the help of neighbors and teams from the Fire Department, Army and Civil Defense.
According to the news portal G1, in addition to the dead already found so far, there have been 134 records of disappearances in the region.
The death toll is expected to rise as more rain is forecast in the region.
Giselli Carvalho is now among hundreds of homeless people who have been herded into makeshift shelters in Petrópolis.
The young woman had been preparing a party for her daughter’s second birthday with the theme of the Disney animated film “Moana”.
“Everything was ready for the party. Now I don’t know what to do with myself“He said while showing journalists videos of Helena’s first day at the nursery, just a few days before the tragedy.
Repetition of a tragedy
image source, Rafael Barifouse BBC News Brazil
In 1995, Carina Santiago lost her mother in a landslide in the same place.
“I didn’t lose anyone, but I lost everything.”
This is how Carina Santiago, 41, sums up her life after the heavy rains in Petrópolis.
Carina is another of the residents of Morro da Oficina.
His story is an example of repeatable preventable tragedies.
In 1995, Carina lost her mother in a landslide in the same place.
More than two decades later, he tells BBC News Brazil what happened on February 15.
“It was horrible, I was stuck at work on Teresa street, which was also affected.”
“The rain was increasing, but we had no idea there would be so much sadness, so much tragedy.” His house is now uninhabitable, but his three children aged 19, 16 and 13 managed to save themselves.
“The back [de la casa] It’s all shattered, our hope is gone. Many people want to return, not understanding that our street is over,” says Natan Santiago Monteiro, Carina’s son.
“I was at the bakery and we saw the creek go by, logs go by, people go by, but we had no idea we were going to lose everything. We only have our clothes on, now we have to go to church and stay there,” says the young man.
Carina recounts that when she lost her mother in a previous landslide, only she lost her house. Now, she points out, the tragedy is much worse, since many families are affected.
“It is a very big trauma. At that moment [cuando perdió a su madre]I was 15 years old, Today I am 41 and I look at everything I worked for, the things I had, I lost everything, I have nothing“.
“I want to give my son a decent burial. He is the love of my life”
image source, Rafael Barifouse BBC News Brazil
Paulo Roberto de Oliveira has been searching for the remains of his 18-year-old son for three days.
Amid the rubble and mud left over from the collapse of Morro da Oficina, a man has been searching for his son’s body for three days.
The 18-year-old was with his grandmother, also missing under the rubble.in a house at the foot of the hillside, which collapsed in the heavy rains.
“I will only leave here when I find it,” Paulo Roberto de Oliveira, 40, a parliamentary adviser, tells journalist Rafael Barifouse of BBC News Brazil.
In the midst of the search, Paulo lives with the horror of other people’s losses. He says that he found a human leg in the middle of the mud, which went down the hillside along with the remains of furniture and appliances that once belonged to other grandfathers and grandmothers, parents and children.
“Born and raised in Petrópolis”, this is not the first time that his life has been affected by the effects of extreme weather events in the city.
In 2011, he lost his home in heavy rains that killed more than 900 people in the Rio highlands that year. At that time, her entire family was left homeless, and she had to go to shelters.
“Only we didn’t lose our lives,” Paulo tells BBC News Brazil, adding that in 2011 110 houses were closed in his neighborhood. “But when you go today, everything is invaded.”
History reveals how irregular occupation is perpetuated in risk areas, without the action of public power.
image source, Rafael Barifouse BBC News Brazil
Family and friends continue to search for their loved ones.
The city, which used to be the summer getaway of the monarchs of Brazil in the 19th century, is a tourist destination and a traditional refuge for people escaping the summer heat in Rio de Janeiro.
But it has also experienced urban sprawl, with poorer households moving up hillsides, often in areas left unstable by deforestation and inadequate drainage.
A 2017 report commissioned by city authorities estimated that nearly 20% of the Petrópolis area was “at high risk of landslides and flooding.”
“The City Council is waiting for more people to die to do something,” complains Paulo.
When asked where he gets the strength to be there, he simply answers “only God”.
“My hope is to find my son, give him a decent burial. It’s the love of my life“, dice.
“Where are the authorities?”
image source, Rafael Barifouse BBC News Brazil
Sueli Alcántara lost five nephews, including a pregnant niece.
Sueli Alcantara lost five nephews, including a pregnant niece. “I lost all my neighbors, on the right side there was not a single house left,” says Sueli.
I was at home when it started to rain. She had to climb out the window and seek shelter on the other side of the hill.
Now, accuse the authorities. “Where are the local authorities, where is the mayor? There is no one here with a hoe to help us. Where are all these people asking us to vote?“.
Residents’ criticism of the authorities’ response is widespread.
With more than 80 houses affected in Morro da Oficina, neighbors report that, on Wednesday, there were many corpses in the place and they had to use sheets to protect the remains, due to the lack of adequate plastic.
image source, Archyde.com
Marcelo Barbosa searches for the remains of his wife in Morro da Oficina. A national body, CEMADEN, had issued an alert the day before the rains, but no one was evacuated.
The Petrópolis City Council declared a state of public calamity. In the hospitals, according to the local authority, the teams were reinforced to assist the victims.
According to a newspaper report leaf of s. Paulthe administration of the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, spent barely half of the planned budget on the disaster prevention and response programaccording to official data.
Castro said at a press conference on Wednesday that there is a historic deficit in disaster prevention in the state and that “20, 30, 40 years cannot be resolved in one year.”
At the press conference, the governor announced the installation of a field hospital in the city to care for those affected by the storm, in addition to the arrival of carts with medicines, supplies and hygiene material.
The governor said he authorized subsidized rent to prevent people from staying in shelters and announced a line of credit program for merchants.
On Monday, the Cemaden (National Center for Monitoring and Warning of Natural Disasters) had warned about the risk of heavy rains in the region, with the possibility of landslides.
However, risk areas were not evacuated preventively.
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