Global General
At least 200 buried, feared dead in Rio mudslide
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-09 00:33
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 Firefighters recover a body near the wreckage of houses after a landslide at Vicoso Jardim neighborhood in Niteroi, 15 miles (24 km) away from downtown Rio de Janeiro, April 8, 2010. [Agencies]
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Rio officials said they are going to step up forced evictions of slum residents living in at-risk areas.
Mayor Eduardo Paes announced that 1,500 families were going to be removed from their homes on in at least two Rio slums, and that more evictions were likely.
"I don't want to spend next summer sleepless, worrying if the rains are going to kill somebody," he told reporters, without saying when the relocations would occur.
The heavy rains plunged Rio into chaos this week, snarling traffic, knocking down trees and power lines, opening up enormous craters in streets and sending wastewater flowing to the white sand beaches of the city of 6 million.
In the Rocinha slum, officials said 16 inches (41 centimeters) of rain has fallen so far this month _ three times the amount normally expected for all of April. Similar figures were seen across Rio's metropolitan area.
Rio state Civil Defense said at least 11,000 people were forced from their homes. Officials said potential mudslides threatened at least 10,000 houses in the city.
The toll in Rio has already surpassed that of 2008 flooding and mudslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina that killed nearly 130 people and displaced about 80,000.
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