“Biggest tragedy in the history of the region,” says the mayor of São Sebastião, São Paulo

According to the latest information, 36 people died, and 40 are still missing as a result of heavy rains in the municipality

On Monday (20), the mayor of São Sebastião (SP), Felipe Augusto (PSDB), said that 100% of the city was affected by landslides as a result of heavy rains and classified the situation as the “biggest tragedy in the history of the region.”

According to the latest information, 37 people died (36 in São Sebastião and one in Ubatuba), and almost 2,500 had to leave their homes. 50 houses collapsed.

Search teams are still looking for 40 missing people in São Sebastião.

According to the civil defense, the volume of rain in the city was 627 millimeters, twice the expected for the month.

“There has never been a situation like this. We are talking about the biggest tragedy in the history of the region. Several points of the Rio-Santos road no longer exist. The amount of water that came down was out of the ordinary. Streets, houses, schools, and public buildings were destroyed”, said the mayor of São Sebastião in an interview with the O Globo newspaper.

In the whole state, there are about 1,730 people displaced and 766 homeless.

Six cities have declared a state of calamity, and the state governor, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), declared a three-day official mourning in memory of the victims.

With information from Brasil Sem Medo