22 Reported Dead as Heavy Rain Triggers Floods, Landslides in Brazil

(MENAFN) Twenty-two people are confirmed dead and hundreds more have been forced from their homes in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais after historic, relentless rainfall unleashed catastrophic landslides and flash flooding — with rescue teams still racing against time to find dozens buried beneath the mud.

Emergency crews and firefighters, backed by specialized K-9 units, remain deployed across the state in a desperate search operation, though authorities have yet to establish a confirmed figure for those still missing.

The industrial city of Juiz de Fora has absorbed the worst of the disaster. Sixteen of the 22 confirmed fatalities occurred there, most of them killed when landslides buried homes within seconds. The city's main river and its tributaries burst their banks, consuming entire neighborhoods in hours.

February has now been recorded as the rainiest month in Juiz de Fora's documented history — 584 millimeters, just under two feet of rainfall, double the monthly average. The downpour struck with sudden ferocity Monday and showed no mercy through the night.

As floodwaters surged in the early hours of Tuesday, Juiz de Fora Mayor Margarida Salomao declared a state of public calamity — a designation that unlocks immediate federal emergency funding and resources.

"The situation is extremely serious," Salomao said in a video recorded amid the emergency response. "We are working tirelessly to save lives and reach those trapped."

Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema has declared three days of official mourning and was scheduled to arrive in Juiz de Fora on Tuesday to personally oversee a large-scale rescue operation, which includes local firefighting teams reinforced by 150 officers deployed from surrounding municipalities.

Nowhere is the devastation more acute than in the Parque Burnier neighborhood, where a single catastrophic landslide wiped out 12 homes on one street. Firefighters estimate at least 17 people remain missing, among them five children. Rescue teams extracted nine survivors from the wreckage, but search dogs now represent the last hope for families still awaiting word on loved ones.

More than 440 displaced residents are currently sheltering across three public schools, their homes either destroyed outright or rendered too dangerous to reenter.

The catastrophe is part of a grim and recurring pattern across Brazil, where summer rains routinely turn deadly in densely populated, mountainous terrain. Hours before the storm overwhelmed Juiz de Fora, flooding in São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro, claimed the life of an 85-year-old woman who drowned inside her own home, forcing more than 600 residents in the metropolitan area to evacuate. In São Paulo, two additional storm-related deaths last week pushed the state's seasonal death toll to 19 since the wet season commenced in December.

With further rainfall forecast for late Tuesday, authorities remain on high alert — bracing for yet another wave of landslides across an already shattered region.

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