Community | January 12, 2011 | 30 comments

Torrential rain, mudslides in Brazil kill 140

source: http://msnbc.com/id/41042622/ns/world_news-americas/

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JanforGore
Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains, killing at least 140 people in 24 hours, Brazilian officials said Wednesday. Rescuers using heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands struggled to dig through tons of mud and debris in a search for survivors.

In Teresopolis, a town 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Rio, flash floods tossed cars into trees and mudslides poured tons of red earth over houses below. At least 114 died, according to a local Civil Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release the information. She added that 10 inches (26 centimeters) of rain fell on the town during 24 hours.

Survivors waded through waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying to reach higher ground. Flood water continued to flow down the mountains, though rains had stopped.

.."I've lived here 25 years and I've never seen anything like it," Teresopolis citizen Manoel Rocha Sobrinho told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. "I live on high ground and when I looked below, I only saw a sea of mud. Most people saved themselves by climbing trees."

With the new disasters, nearly 2000 people have died since Christmas across the southeastern portions of the country.

The mayor of Teresopolis decreed a state of emergency, calling the calamity "the worst to hit the town." About 800 search and rescue workers from the state's civil defense department and firefighters dug for survivors.

"There was no saying what would collapse. Rich people's homes, poor people's homes. Everything was destroyed," Fernanda Carvalho, 27, a house cleaner, told Globo TV.

In neighboring Petropolis, 18 people were confirmed dead by the city's mayor.

The death toll in the region is expected to rise as firefighters reach remote valleys and steep mountainsides where neighborhoods were destroyed, said Jorge Mario Sedlacek, the mayor of Teresopolis. About 1,000 there were left homeless.

"This is the largest catastrophe in the history of this town," said Sedlacek in an interview with Globo TV.

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30 comments // Torrential rain, mudslides in Brazil kill 140

  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/climate-change-in-brazil/poli...

      Brazil and Climate Change: A Country Profile

      "In international negotiations, Brazil points out that climate change is driven more by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than by yearly emissions, primarily because the most important greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) remains in the atmosphere for more than a century on average. Yearly emissions data therefore generally overestimate developing countries' contributions to climate change, and underestimate that of developed countries. Brazil therefore says that it will not limit its greenhouse gas emissions until the middle of the century.

      Brazil's vulnerability to climate change

      Brazil is vulnerable to climate change, not least due to its fragile, biologically diverse ecosystems. The tropical rain forest in the Amazon and the Pantanal wetland are of particular concern. Some studies show that, as temperatures rise, the Amazon rain forest could become dryer, making spontaneous fires more frequent. Those fires would release more greenhouse gases increasing their concentrations in the atmosphere, in turn raising temperatures further. There is also concern that coral reefs along Brazilian coastlines could suffer from the effects of climate change.

      Changing rainfall patterns, especially in the drought-affected northeastern region of the country, will mean poorer water resources and a reduced water supply. Agriculture will suffer, aggravating the risk of famines. Less rain will also affect the hydropower supply, which, according to the International Energy Association, provides more than 80 per cent of the electricity Brazil generates.

      Floods, which are already a serious problem for various regions, may increase. Coastal areas, where the bulk of the population and economic activities are concentrated, will be vulnerable to rising sea levels."

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -1
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      Yet another flawed article written by lazy journalists keen on getting as many references to climate change into the article as possible.
      Note the use of the language and the fact that Brazil is not going to decrease its own 'greenhouse' gas emissions;
      "Some studies show that, as temperatures rise, the Amazon rain forest could become dryer"
      Temperatures are now falling, but they focus on 'some' studies that show rising temperatures may be a problem. How many studies show that warming is beneficial? And "the Amazon rain forest could become dryer, making spontaneous fires more frequent."? Well, will it or won't is? Why speculate? Was there ever a time when fires raged out of control? Of course there was. Fires are nothing new in the history of the planet -some trees require fires to propagate! Were run-away fires a problem in the past? Seemingly not, we're here after all. Had fires been a problem why didn't the world burn up centuries ago?

      "There is also concern that coral reefs along Brazilian coastlines could suffer from the effects of climate change."
      Widely debunked already.

      "Changing rainfall patterns, especially in the drought-affected northeastern region of the country, will mean poorer water resources and a reduced water supply. "
      Is that the fault of the rains or the plans of people who utilise the water?

      "Less rain will also affect the hydropower supply..."
      So less rain is bad, just as more rain is bad. There should be the right amount of rain, apparently!!!

      "Floods, which are already a serious problem for various regions, may increase."
      May increase? Guessing here?

      Why can't people see through these scaremongering, badly written articles?

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/srilankaweatherfloods;_ylt=Ah1GwHxIwtkEglBqVt4MHlJn....

      Flooding in Sri Lanka has forced more than one million people out of their homes, the government said Thursday as it began distributing emergency food, clothing and bedding.

      At least 23 people have died during a week of monsoon floods, with the centre and east of the island worst hit by rising water levels and mudslides.

      A spokesman for the disaster management centre in Colombo said the eastern district of Batticaloa, which saw bloody fighting in the civil war that ended in 2009, was badly affected after heavier than usual seasonal rains.

      "Some 541,000 people have been displaced in Batticaloa district alone where we have set up 275 camps to accommodate them," the spokesman said, adding that a total of 1,081,000 people have been displaced.

      More than 350,000 people have taken shelter in state-run relief camps while other displaced people have moved to higher ground, often staying with friends or relatives, he said.

      Retired school principal K. Ratnavel, 63, said half of the coastal village of Ailadivembu, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of the Batticaloa town, was under water.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_philippines_floods

      "Sustained heavy rain and floods in the central and southern Philippines have killed 42 people and damaged crops and infrastructure worth more than 1 billion pesos ($23 million), disaster officials said on Thursday.

      Floods and landslides caused by more than two weeks of heavy rains in late December and January have displaced nearly 400,000 people, Benito Ramos, head of the government's disaster agency, told reporters on Thursday.

      Major rice and corn production areas in the north and western part of the country have been spared.

      "Our soldiers are using helicopters to deliver relief goods and survey areas for clearing and rehabilitation," Ramos said, appealing for food, water, medicines and warm clothes.

      Most of the dead either drowned or were buried by mudslides, Ramos said. Five people are still missing, including three fisherman.

      About a third of the country's 80 provinces had been affected by the rains, which have destroyed roads and bridges, small rice and corn farms and houses made of light materials, Ramos said."

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -1
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      The more stories you post relating to floods, the more you can link them all together. All caused by global warming? Seemingly not. There is a recognised phenomenon that causes these well known and regular events - La Niña.

      "Torrential Rains and flooding have battered 25 provinces in the Philippines over the last two weeks.

      He [Francis Pangilinan] warned that the country was just starting to experience the effects of the La Niña and that the government meteorological agency had warned more typhoons could be expected this year from January to March from the influence of La Niña.

      Like Australia, La Niña and warm sea surface temperatures has resulted in increased precipitation and more intense rainfall events in the Phillipines."

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/13/3112044.htm

      Perhaps when agriculture in all of these countries is ruined to the point where food is so exhorbitantly expensive that people here truly begin to feel the effects of it as food riots continue will this be given any serious weight. Pakistan, Columbia, Brazil, Australia, China, India, as examples.... all places where agriculture is central to the people and all areas under flood waters. I also read that the people of Brisbane are in absolute shock regarding the intensity of the floods now inundating their city. Continuing to ignore these global signals is a great disservice to the people who live in these areas, and to those to come. Once the tipping point is reached regarding what we have put up in our atmosphere being the catalyst for pushing the envelope there is no going back.
      ___________

      "More than 250 dead amid Brazil floods
      Posted 3 hours 47 minutes ago

      Floods and landslides devastated mountain towns near Rio de Janeiro and killed dozens, bringing the death toll from heavy rains in Brazil's south to at least 257.

      At least 130 people were killed in Teresopolis, about 100 kilometres north of Rio, town officials said, after hillsides and riverbanks buckled under the equivalent of a month's rainfall in 24 hours, sending water and mud surging through communities.

      At least 20 people were killed in the city of Petropolis, and 107 in the town of Nova Friburgo, state officials said in an emailed statement.

      The rains sweeping south-eastern Brazil also killed 13 people in Sao Paulo state on Tuesday and snarled transport in the country's financial capital.

      About 50 people were believed missing just in Teresopolis, the city's mayor, Jorge Mario, told Globo television.

      "Rescue teams are still arriving in the areas that have been worst affected," he said, adding that about 1,000 people had been left homeless. "It's the biggest catastrophe in the history of the town."

      Thousands of people in the picturesque area, known as the Serrana region, were isolated by the floodwaters and cut off from power and telephone contact.

      The downpour caused at least one river to burst its banks, submerging cars and destroying houses in Teresopolis, television images showed.

      "I saw six bodies on my street," 53-year-old Teresopolis resident Antonio Venancio, whose house was inundated with mud but remained standing, told Reuters by telephone.

      "We just don't know what to do in the face of something so horrible."

      Rio state governor Sergio Cabral said in a statement he had asked the Navy for aircraft to take rescue crews and equipment to the region, which was partially cut off from Rio by road.

      In Nova Friburgo, three firemen were missing after being buried by a mudslide while they tried to rescue victims, according to fire officials.

      One three-storey house collapsed on Tuesday, killing three people, including two children.

      Buses and trucks were shown stranded on streets with floodwaters reaching up to their windows."
      ______

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -1
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      "She [a local Civil Defense official] added that 10 inches (26 centimeters) of rain fell on the town during 24 hours."

      Not good, is it? But when the alarmist-in-chief grabs hold of the story and adds an opinion, "Continuing to ignore these global signals is a great disservice to the people who live in these areas, and to those to come. Once the tipping point is reached regarding what we have put up in our atmosphere being the catalyst for pushing the envelope there is no going back. " one has to wonder where the hell she's coming from.

      Floods and mudslides in Brazil are hardly anything new, but when did that stop the fearmongers from using this as ammunition to feed their addiction to negativity?

      Heaviest rains ever in Bahia district of Brazil was 15 inches in 24 hrs, and that was in 1971. Now, was that a tipping point? Did the world come to an end soon after? Was that the first of a run of floods?
      Even the CIA's World Factbook says about Brazil:
      "Natural hazards: recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south."
      But don't let facts and reality get in the way of a good story.

    • 1 year ago
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • coolplanet
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • coolplanet:

      You already know this person is not here to have serious conversations or knows anything remotely substantial about this topic. He is only here to spread more manure on this thread like he does every other. Perhaps if people actually started ignoring their redundant broken record canned responses meant to disrupt others could actually have a thread to discuss these issues without having to wade through multiple posts containing their ignorant bs.

      Thank you.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
  • JanforGore
  • coolplanet
    • -1
      coolplanet  
    • JanforGore:

      ayipis represents the majority of ignorant people we need to get through to.
      i am convinced that he stays here because he passionately believes we are the enemy and he feels a patriotic duty to challenge us.
      What he says is what a lot of people think.
      We need to learn from him as much as he needs to learn from us.
      Actually i've noticed he sometimes stimulates interesting responces.
      We need him to vent our anger and humor.
      And we all need to lighten up

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -1
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      If all of us have the right to express an opinion here, why did you delete an entire story and comment thread?

      Free speech, but only on your terms?

      "BTW, I deleted the previous entry on this because I was tired of coming into the thread and seeing the same disruptors and the same fights. So thanks Current for providing that option. ;-) " - JanforGore

    • 1 year ago
  • tverdell
    • tverdell  
    • This comment was removed by its owner.
  • kennymotown
    • +3
      kennymotown  
    • tverdell:

      Well passed it! The powers that be, Illuminati, economic royalist, whoever need too get rid of about 4 billion people in the near future without further damage to the planet such as nuclear. You see they have to live in the environment that is left over.

    • 1 year ago
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • kennymotown
  • JanforGore
  • IceKat
    • -1
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      (USGS data)
      Flood - February 26 1971, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 130 killed.
      Flood - March 29 1974, in Tubaro, Brazil, 1,000 killed.
      Flood - January-February 1979, in Brazil, 204 killed.
      And that's just the 1970s.
      You're trying to make this one sound worse than all the rest. If this were some sort of tipping point, why weren't floods/mudslides in previous decades also tipping points?

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • There is not one continent that is not experiencing some form of extreme weather/climate events. Don't tell me this is only "natural' and that there are no other forcings exacerbating the severity of them.

    • 1 year ago
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • Itsbatman_Durr
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • MrMxyzptlk:

      Brazil is one of the most dammed nations in the world with 80% of their electricity coming from hydroelectric dams and they aim to build more. And for your education, Brisbane is now in danger due to having to discharge water from the main dam there as it is is now way beyond capacity. You can't even build a dam unless you flood an area first, and many times they are areas that displace millions of people and destroy culture, forests, and agriculture. It solves nothing in the face of such an event as this and in many instances adds to the dangers. Please inform yourself before continung to fill these threads with nothing but misinformation and lies to suit your own politically ignorant and biased agenda.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -1
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      Just how much disinformation can you possibly get into one comment?
      "Brisbane is now in danger due to having to discharge water from the main dam there as it is is now way beyond capacity."

      Now read this snippet of a news article;

      "But authorities cannot completely rule out the possibility of a "second flood", similar to what happened in 1893, when floodwaters reached a peak of eight metres.

      In that year, floodwaters peaked between February 2 and 7, then dropped before returning to the peak from February 17-19.

      Emeritus Professor Colin Apelt, a retired Brisbane hydrologist, said it was this possibility that was driving the quick emptying of Wivenhoe Dam.

      "The fact that you've had this before obviously means that there's a precedent, but it's at the moment impossible to say just if and when there might be rain like we had earlier in the week.

      "That's why they're getting water out of Wivenhoe as quickly as possible -- so that if the rains do come back, they can fill it again.""

      Please also note the fact that something caused a flood in 1893 (and regularly before and since). Global warming? CO2? How about the 2011 flood being a natural event, just like all the other regular floods in Australia.

      Please inform yourself before continuing to fill these threads with nothing but misinformation and lies to suit your own politically ignorant and biased agenda.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
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