Khaberni - At least 30 people were killed and 39 others are missing in river flooding and the formation of torrents that swept away homes at night in Southeast Brazil due to heavy rains, according to officials on Wednesday.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated that his government has declared a state of emergency and put the national civil defense on high alert.
The cities of Juiz de Fora and Oba recorded 30 deaths, according to official figures, while 200 people were rescued.
Margarida Salomao, the mayor of Juiz de Fora, declared a state of emergency because of the heavy and continuous rain.
In one of the most affected neighborhoods in Juiz de Fora, the torrents "swept away" 12 homes in a "massive landslide," according to Major Dimitrious Goulart of the fire department.
Goulart said "many people were in their homes at night when it was raining."
He continued, "We have hope. We found a boy this morning. He was inside one of the houses, under the debris," explaining that extracting him took two hours and he was transported to the hospital.
In the year 2024, more than 200 people died and two million people were affected by unprecedented floods in the south of Brazil, in one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history.
Two years prior, floods in Petropolis near Rio de Janeiro killed 241 people.
In recent years, Brazil has witnessed a series of disasters linked to extreme weather phenomena, from floods to droughts and severe heatwaves.
