RIO DE JANEIRO — Rodrigo de Almeira had dug for 15 hours through mud and debris, and he looked like it. Mud covered his head, his ripped shirt, his torn jeans and his rubber sandals.
When asked Wednesday whether he had saved anyone from the massive landslide in the slum where he lives, he shook his head. Of the 145 people confirmed dead from Rio’s heaviest rains on record, at least 18 died in his shantytown, Pleasure Hill.
“Right there at least 15 people I know died,” Almeira said, staring at a massive mound of mud and debris. Wood planks — remnants of shacks engulfed by the landslide — poked through the mud as 30 rescue workers dug with picks and shovels, looking for survivors.
“We found a guy alive this morning, so we had hope,” said Almeira, 28. “He didn’t make it. We were told he died on his way to the hospital.”
More death was certain for Rio. Late Wednesday, an official with the state’s civil-defense department said a huge mudslide smashed into a slum in Rio’s neighboring city of Niteroi, burying up to 40 homes. It was not clear how many people were missing, but it was likely to be in the dozens.
Because of the rains, steep hillsides and loose earth, officials said there had been few successful rescues. One man, Carlos Eduardo Silva dos Santos, 24, was pulled alive from under a concrete wall in Rio.
The death toll could easily rise. An official with Rio’s fire department said at least 60 people were missing Wednesday afternoon — before the latest mudslide in Niteroi.
Although the rain that poured down without interruption from Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning had finally begun to let up Wednesday afternoon, it was raining again Wednesday night and more rain was expected through the weekend.
