Heavy rain leaves at least 34 dead in Brazil’s Petropolis

RIO DE JANEIRO: No less than 34 individuals died after heavy rain hit Petropolis, a metropolis within the mountainous area of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state, native authorities mentioned on Wednesday.
Metropolis streets have been flooded by downpours, whereas landslides additionally resulted in fatalities.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who’s touring to Russia, mentioned on Twitter he had requested ministers to assist the town and the victims of the storm. Rio de Janeiro’s Governor Claudio Castro went to Petropolis on Tuesday night time.
“We’re in Petropolis articulating all the assistance wanted at the moment,” Castro wrote on his Twitter account, including in a video assertion that he would solely depart the town when the response to the catastrophe had been organized.
From Moscow, the place he’ll meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Bolsonaro mentioned he had spoken with the regional improvement minister Rogerio Marinho and financial system minister Paulo Guedes to safe help to the town.
Since December, heavy rains have triggered lethal floods and landslides in northeast Brazil and Sao Paulo state, threatened to delay harvests within the midwest and briefly compelled the suspension of mining operations within the state of Minas Gerais.