The violent storm that has battered since Thursday over the state of Minas Gerais, in the southeast of Brazil, has left at least thirty dead and seventeen missing, civil defense officials announced on Saturday 25 January. According to this new assessment – the previous one reported eleven killed -, these exceptional weather conditions have also left seven injured and displaced more than 3,500 people in some 30 affected cities.
Those who died were victims of landslides and the destruction of homes caused by record floods and precipitation. Local television footage shows rockfalls, buried houses, uprooted trees and utility poles, flooding rivers and neighborhoods flooded by the storm, which also affects neighboring states of Rio and Espirito Santo.
Record precipitation
Two children and two adults died on Friday from the collapse of two homes in Ibirite. Two other people died in the collapse of homes in the Vila Bernardete neighborhood of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Four other people died in Belo Horizonte, and one in Contagem.
The National Meteorological Institute said it recorded the heaviest precipitation ever measured in 24 hours since the start of the measurements 110 years ago. Between 9 a.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday, 171.8 millimeters of rain were recorded in Belo Horizonte, a record. The rains continued on Saturday.
A week ago, six people died in floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in the state of Espirito Santo, in southeast Brazil.
