Floods and landslides kill eight, 13 missing in Brazil

Two days of heavy rain have battered a broad swath of the southeastern state’s Atlantic coast, the latest in a series of deadly storms in Brazil that experts have said are being aggravated by climate change, AlJazeera reported.

The latest floods and landslides come six weeks after flash floods and landslides killed 233 people in the scenic city of Petropolis, the Brazilian empire’s 19th-century summer capital, also in Rio state.

This time, the areas hit hardest included the tourist town of Paraty, a seaside colonial city known for its picturesque cobblestone streets and colourful houses.

Officials on Saturday there said a landslide in the Ponta Negra neighbourhood had killed a mother and five of her children, ages two, five, eight, 10 and 15.

A sixth child was rescued alive and taken to the hospital, they said.

In all, seven houses were swept away in landslides in the city, and another four people were injured. Seventy-one families were forced from their homes, officials said.

Two more victims were killed in the cities of Mesquita and Angra dos Reis, where another 13 people remain missing, said Congressman Marcelo Freixo, who represents the state of 17.5 million people.

In Angra, the victim was a four-year-old girl buried in a landslide, while in Mesquita, 40km (25 miles) northwest of Rio de Janeiro city, a 38-year-old man was electrocuted trying to help another person escape the flooding, media reports said.

ZZ/PR