Emergency workers desperately continue to search for those still missing after the catastrophic floods and landslides that struck in Petrópolis in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after record rainfall on 15 February 2022.
Teams from the fire service, police, military and Civil Defence are working around the clock using heavy machinery and sniffer dogs to locate the many still believed to be missing under the wreckage of buildings destroyed by landslides and floods. However it is several days since the landslides struck and authorities say it is unlikely anyone will be found alive.
According to the official figures of 20 February 2022, as many as 152 people have now died in the disaster with a further 120 thought to be still missing. A total of 197 people have been seriously injured and hospitalized. Furthermore damage to houses has left 856 homeless and staying in 12 temporary shelters in the city.
Civil Defence said they have recorded 775 incidents of landslides in the area. Images acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 17 February 2022 show dozens of landslide scars (bright orange) along slopes surrounding the city.
