Weekend storm in Sao Paulo leaves four dead, thousands homeless
15/1/2008 16:40
Last week's storm in Brazil's Sao Paulo state has left four people dead
and thousands of others homeless, local media reported yesterday.
Authorities
have estimated that 15,000 people were displaced by the storm on the southern
coast of Sao Paulo and in the valley of the Ribeira River.
The body of
fisherman Jose Aparecido Rodrigues, 44, was found Monday. He was out fishing
when heavy rains began in the municipality of Peruibe, on the southern coast of
the state.
In Peruibe, which suffered its worst storm in 47 years, the civil
defense department said seven other people are still missing and the main
transportation available are boats .
Also Monday, firefighters found the
bodies of a couple who lived in the neighboring municipality of Jacupiranga.
Their house was destroyed after being hit by a landslide as a result of the
storm, and the two died in the rubble.
In Sao Jose dos Campos, 91 km from Sao
Paulo city, an 85-year-old woman drowned when the floodwaters swamped her house
and she was unable to walk because of an illness.
The storms also affected
the metropolitan region of the state, home to over 19 million people. Floods and
fallen trees blocked roads and destroyed houses.
Xinhua
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