Petrópolis: Deadly landslides wreak havoc in Brazilian city

More than 100 people have died in landslides and flash flooding in the Brazilian city of Petrópolis, officials say.

The city, which is located in the mountains north of Rio de Janeiro, was hit by torrential rainfall.

Houses in hillside neighbourhoods were destroyed and cars swept away as floodwaters raced through the city's streets.

Search and rescue teams are combing the mud for survivors.

Brazil's National Civil Defence said that 24 people had been rescued alive by Wednesday night local time.

Videos shared on social media showed extensive damage and vehicles floating in the streets.

"The situation is almost like war... Cars hanging from poles, cars overturned, lots of mud and water still," Rio de Janeiro Governor Cláudio Castro told journalists.

With more than 30 people reported missing, he said that the search and rescue efforts would continue non-stop.

A city in trauma

Residents here are holding out hope their loved ones can be found, but it's a complicated situation with so much mud and rubble to clear. People are watching and waiting patiently.

You can see how the mudslide came crashing down through this hillside neighbourhood, wiping out everything in its path and creating a valley of mud, rubble and mangled wires.

When we arrived there was a family in floods of tears, with a shovel in hand, trying to find where their loved one was.

This is a city in trauma - residents are trying to organise themselves to work on the rescue effort along with firefighters. I spoke to a community leader called Paulo. He said that his priority was to try to find his son who was buried in the landslide.

Petrópolis is a popular tourist destination in the hills above Rio de Janeiro which used to be the summer getaway for Brazil's monarchs in the 19th Century.

But after a month's worth of rain fell on the city in just three hours - the heaviest rainfall since 1932, according to Governor Castro - much of its regal charm lay in ruins, with homes and shops destroyed by the flooding.

Search and rescue workers have been deployed to the city

In one of the worst-hit neighbourhoods, up to 80 houses were hit by landslides.

"The water came very fast and with great force. My loss was 100%. Our life was already tough with the pandemic... and this tragedy still comes," shopkeeper Henrique Pereira told Reuters news agency.

Dozens of homes were damaged by landslides after heavy rains in Petrópolis

Around 300 people are being housed in schools and shelters, and charities are calling for donations of mattresses, food, clothing and face masks.

"I found a girl who was buried alive," Wendel Pio Lourenco, a 24-year-old resident, told the AFP news agency while heading to a local church in search of shelter.

"Everyone is saying it looks like a war zone."

It is the latest in a series of heavy rains to hit Brazil in the past three months, which scientists say are being made worse by climate change.

Petrópolis and the surrounding region were previously hit by severe storms in January 2011, when more than 900 people died in flooding and landslides.

Cars and entire homes were swept away by the floodwaters