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| Situation Update No. 1 Ref.no.: LS-20100121-24645-BRA
Situation Update No. 1
On 2010-01-23 at 05:35:58 [UTC]
Event: Landslide
Location: Brazil State of Sao Paulo Sao Paulo
Number of Deads: 9 person(s)
Number of Missing: 1 person(s)
Situation: Nine people have died in mudslides triggered by recent torrential rains in this metropolis, while close to 1.2 million people were still lacking potable water service, authorities said Friday. In their latest report, civil defense officials said the bodies of another three mudslide victims were recovered Thursday night. Earlier that same day, emergency management officials had reported six people dead from mudslides: a 75-year-old retired man and a 10-year-old girl in Sao Paulo city, two other minors in the suburb of Ribeirao Pires and two more fatalities in the Sao Paulo suburbs of Maua and Santo Andre. The worst of the downpours that hit Sao Paulo this week occurred early Thursday and its effects were still being felt Friday morning in several neighborhoods of this metropolis, home to 17.5 million people. Meanwhile, the Sao Paulo state water company said that some 1.2 million people in some southern and western parts of Brazil’s largest city still lacked potable water but that service should be restored on Friday. Sao Paulo has been pounded over the past three weeks by torrential downpours that are blamed for 56 deaths and considered the worst in the past 70 years. The metropolis’ mayor, Gilberto Kassab, said Thursday that the city has become more prone to floods because of uncontrolled growth that has led to the paving over of grass and soil with asphalt, which prevents the water from draining. Authorities said they will remain on alert through the weekend because more intense rain has been forecast for Saturday. |  | | | |
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