TERESOPOLIS, Brazil, (Reuters) – Rescuers uncovered more corpses buried under mud and wrecked homes in southeastern Brazil yesterday as the death toll from torrential rains and massive floods hit 540 people and looked certain to climb.
Rivers of mud tore through towns this week in the mountainous Serrana region outside Rio de Janeiro, leveling houses, throwing cars atop buildings and leaving more than 13,500 people seeking shelter and aid.
It was Brazil’s deadliest natural disaster since 785 people were killed in floods in 1967, a local newspaper reported.
The extent of the damage exposed major flaws in emergency planning and disaster prevention in a country that aspires to attain developed-nation status in coming years.
It also highlighted the huge challenges that new President Dilma Rousseff faces as she strives to upgrade Brazil’s creaking infrastructure before it hosts soccer’s World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later.
The floods have not affected Brazil’s main export crops — soy, sugar cane, oranges and coffee — but likely caused billions of dollars in damage.
Police were deployed to keep order in the handful of towns — some of them popular tourist destinations — about 60 miles (100 km) north of Rio after looters raided stores for food and scoured damaged homes for valuables.
“The number of deaths is going to rise quite a bit. There are still a lot of people buried,” said Rubens Placido, a firefighter in the hard-hit town of Nova Friburgo.
Intermittent rains were complicating the search efforts and more showers were forecast for the weekend.
Rousseff, a career civil servant who never held elected office before being sworn in as president on Jan. 1, visited the region on Thursday and pledged a swift relief effort that has yet to pan out in some of the hardest-hit areas.
