Mud from torrential rain kills at least 58 people in Brazil

PETROPOLIS, Brazil [AP] – The death toll from mudslides and devastating floods that swept a mountainous region of Rio De Janeiro has reached 58, local authorities said on Wednesday.

The city of Petropolis was hit by a massive flood on Tuesday and Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said the death toll is likely to rise as searchers pick up the wreckage. 21 people were found alive.

Priscila Neves and her siblings looked through the mud for any sign of their parents gone, but found only clothing. Neves told the Associated Press She had given up hope of finding her parents alive.

Rosilene Virgilio, 49, broke down in tears as she recalled desperate pleas from someone she couldn’t save.

“There was a woman screaming, ‘Help! Let me out of here!’ But there was nothing we could do; The water is gushing out, the mud is coming out,” Virgilio told The Associated Press. “Oops, our city is done.”

The state fire department said the area received just over 10 inches of rain in three hours on Tuesday. The Globo television network showed homes buried under mud in areas inaccessible to firefighters.

“It was like an avalanche, it fell all at once. I’ve never seen anything like it,” bar owner Emerson Torre told the AP as a rescue helicopter hovered overhead. “Every neighbor has lost a loved one, lost two, three, four members of the same family, children.”