A severe storm that brought “record” rainfall killed at least 36 people in coastal communities in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, causing flooding and landslides over the Carnival weekend, authorities said Sunday, warning that the death toll was at risk of being even heavier.

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 city has suffered extensive damage. About fifty houses were flooded or hit by mudslides.

“There are people buried,” emphasized the mayor of Felipe Augustou, describing the “extremely critical” situation.

At least 35 dead and many buried under tons of mud

So far, 35 deaths have been recorded in the municipality of San Sebastião, about 200 kilometers from Sao Paulo, the state capital of the same name, the state government said.

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

“Unfortunately, we will have other, numerous deaths,” discounted the head of Civil Protection in São Paulo, Hegel Pereira, according to Folha de São Paulo newspaper.

The authorities also spoke of “228 displaced people” and “another 338 citizens who were removed from their homes”.

It has not been specified by the authorities – at least at this stage – neither the number of injured nor that of the missing, as an operation remains in progress to rescue civilians and offer assistance to those affected.

Teams were to continue the search and rescue operation “throughout the night and into the morning”, the state government said.

Rescue operations

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…

Some 130 teams continue to operate in hard-to-reach terrain, with the help of 23 vehicles and seven helicopters; the Brazilian army, gendarmerie, fire brigade and specialized Civil Protection units have also been mobilized.

Later today, 80 police officers will take part in the operation.

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 communication networks.”

Lula in the affected areas

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will visit the affected areas today. He is expected to arrive in Bahia by air around 10:00 (local time; 15:00 Greek time).

“I’m going to Sao Paulo” to “support efforts to address this tragedy,” he said via Twitter.

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

The federal government has also announced that it is disbursing resources to deal with the crisis.

“There will be no shortage of means, nor staff, nor equipment,” regional integration and development minister Valdiz Goes promised to GloboNews television. Mr Goes is also expected in the affected areas today.

Brazil, suffering the consequences of climate change, has repeatedly experienced terrible natural disasters in recent years: notably in Petropolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where landslides and floods left behind more than 230 dead in 2022.