A severe storm that brought “record” rainfall killed at least 24 people in coastal communities in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, causing flooding and landslides over the Carnival weekend, authorities said Sunday.

So far, “23 deaths” have been recorded in the municipality of San Sebastião, about 200 kilometers from the state capital of the same name, Sao Paulo, Mayor Felipe Augusto told CNN.

Further north, in the coastal town of Ubatuba, a little girl died due to severe weather, according to local authorities.

The state government in Sao Paulo earlier yesterday spoke of 19 dead, “228 displaced” and “another 338 citizens who were removed from their homes”.

The authorities have not specified at this stage neither the number of injured nor that of the missing. It was emphasized that an operation is still ongoing to rescue civilians and offer assistance to those affected.

The authorities emphasized that a two-year-old boy who had been swept away by a mudflow and a pregnant woman who was giving birth were rescued.

“Buried World”

The governor of Sao Paulo, Tarquisio de Freitas, who inspected the affected areas from the air, declared a state of emergency in six municipalities in the region, in the north of the state. His government announced that 1.4 million euros are urgently being disbursed for rescue and relief operations.

The municipality of San Sebastião, which attracts many visitors during the carnival, was among those hardest hit by the bad weather. Within 24 hours, more than 600 millimeters of rain fell, in other words an amount twice the monthly average, the municipality said.

About fifty houses were hit by torrents of mud. “There are people buried,” emphasized the mayor of Augustou.

The amount of rainfall was “record breaking”, he continued, describing the “extremely critical” situation.

As in other communities in the region, the schedule of carnival celebrations was canceled due to the deadly weather.

Lula in the affected areas

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected in the affected areas later today. “I’m going to Sao Paulo” to “support efforts to address this tragedy,” he said via Twitter.

Images uploaded to social networking sites or broadcast by regional media reveal the scale of the devastation: entire neighborhoods submerged in water, wreckage of houses swept away by torrents of mud, collapsed roads…

In another post, the Brazilian president promised to mobilize “all levels of government” in order to “treat the wounded, search for the missing, open the roads, restore the power grid and communications networks.”

More than a hundred firefighters are battling in difficult terrain, with the help of vehicles and seven helicopters, the state government said.

The Brazilian army was also mobilized, deploying two aircraft, while specialized units of the Civil Protection were sent.

Meteorologists predict that heavy rains will continue in the state, making the work of rescue teams difficult and raising the risk that the toll will become even heavier.

Regional Integration and Development Minister Valdiz Goes will also visit the affected areas today. “There will be no shortage of means, nor staff, nor equipment,” he promised, speaking to the GloboNews television network.

Brazil, a country suffering the consequences of climate change, has experienced repeated natural disasters in recent years: in Petropolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, landslides and floods claimed the lives of over 230 people in 2022.