Brazil mudslides death toll rises as survivors speak of horror

WALLS of earth and water swept away homes in the mountains north of Rio de Janeiro, wiping out families and leaving survivors scrambling yesterday to reach trapped neighbours.

At least 350 people died in three towns after the slides hit at about 3am on Wednesday, and 50 or more were still missing, according to officials and reliable local news reports.

“We were like zombies, covered in mud, in the dark, digging and digging” after the slides hit, said Geisa Carvalho, 19.

A tremendous rumble awoke Geisa and her mother Vania Ramos as tonnes of earth slid down a sheer granite rock face onto their neighbourhood.

The power was out, but by lightning flashes they could see a torrent of mud and water rushing just a few feet from their home — and the remnants of their neighbours’ houses that were swept far down a hill.

“I don’t even have the words to describe what I’ve seen,” said Ramos, during an 8-kilometre hike to the main part of her town in search of food and water. “A lot of our friends are dead or missing. There are people we may never find.”

Carvalho and Ramos said they ran out of their home moments after the mudslide and joined neighbours in digging for survivors with bare hands and sticks. They quickly located a family of four who had died under the rubble of their home — and said another neighbour’s 2-month-old baby was washed away in his crib, yet to be found.

Nearly all the homes in their Caleme neighbourhood were swept to the bottom of a hill, seemingly turned inside out.

A river of water and mud flowed through the streets as a light rain continued to fall yesterday.

Only a few rescuers had managed to hike to Caleme last night and they only had shovels and machetes — not the heavier equipment needed to hunt for survivors.

Residents said they had no food, water or medication, and many made the long walk for help to the centre of Teresopolis, 65km north of Rio.

Such disasters hit Brazil annually in its rainy summer season and unduly punish the poor, who often live in rickety shacks perched perilously on steep hillsides with little or no foundations.

Rio state’s Civil Defence department reported that 152 people were killed in Teresopolis and 36 in neighbouring Petropolis. The Globo TV network, citing the mayor’s office of Nova Friburgo, said 168 people were killed in that town. The Civil Defence department earlier said 107 were dead there; officials were not immediately available to confirm the new figure.

Morgues in the cities were full and bodies covered in blankets were laid out in streets.

Officials said the area hit by slides had seen 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. More rain, possibly heavy at times, is forecast through the weekend.

President Dilma Rousseff flew by helicopter over the region yesterday.

The nation’s Health Ministry said it was sending seven tonnes of medication to the area, enough to treat 45,000 people for a month, it said in a statement.