Police said 165 people were still missing after Tuesday’s storm. It is unlikely that he will be found again after the disaster, authorities said.
The death toll from the torrential rains that caused floods and landslides in the picturesque Brazilian city of Petropolis has risen to 152, authorities said on Sunday, as the pope sent words of condolence.
Rescue workers and residents searching for their missing relatives continued to dig mountains of mud and debris in the southeastern city, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday, looking like “battlefields.”
Police said 165 people were still missing after Tuesday’s storm. It is unlikely that he will be found again after the disaster, authorities said.
It is not yet clear whether the death toll will rise slightly.
The number of missing persons has dropped as more bodies have been identified, and as families have been able to find relatives alive and fear they will be lost in the aftermath of the storm, police said.
To date, 124 bodies have been identified, including 28 children, they said.
Pope Francis sent his latest message of comfort Sunday following his Angelus prayer in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
“I express my closeness to those people who have been affected by natural disasters in recent days,” he said, citing Petropolis “devastated” and Madagascar, which has been hit by deadly hurricanes recently.
“God accept the dead in peace, comfort the family members and support the donors,” he said.
Tuesday was the latest in a series of deadly storms in Brazil, which experts say have exacerbated climate change.
In the past three months, more than 200 people have died as a result of severe storms, mainly in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo and the northeastern state of Bahia, as well as in Petropolis.
- ‘Mega Cleaning’ –
The storm turned roads in the Petropolis into violent rivers that washed away trees, cars, and buses, and caused catastrophic landslides in the impoverished mountainous region of the 300,000-strong city.
It rained for months on end in Petropolis, a picturesque tourist town that was the capital of the 19th century.
The city held what it called a “mega-up cleanup” on Sunday, assisted by 370 sanitation workers deployed as reinforcements in the nearby cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi.
The mayor’s office has urged residents to stay home unless there is a “great need” for them to let the cleaners clear the mud and debris that is blocking the roads.
Authorities have so far found more than 300 vehicles “that had flooded the city, blocking roads and roads or getting stuck in rivers,” they said.
“We need our roads clear to accelerate the work of getting our city back on its feet,” Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said in a statement.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
At least 856 people are being held in emergency rooms, according to officials.
The massacre of victims continued at the city’s main cemetery, where the local government brought in more diggers to strengthen them.