By IANS/EFE,
Rio de Janeiro : The recovery of four more bodies from the mudslides that buried several homes and a hotel in southeastern Brazil took the toll to 85, authorities said.
The discovery of four bodies buried under a mudslide in Angra dos Reis city Monday raised to 85 the number of fatalities caused by rains, according to official figures.
Authorities have announced 72 deaths up to now in Rio de Janeiro, 10 in Sao Paulo and 3 in Minas Gerais. The three states are the most heavily populated and industrialised in Brazil.
The hardest hit areas were Angra dos Reis, a city on the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro, and the nearby resort island of Ilha Grande.
Firefighters said that up to now 29 bodies have been recovered from the Ilha Grande mudslides and another 21 in Angra dos Reis, bringing to 50 the number of fatalities in that region.
The firefighters, after four days of removing mud and rubble, continue to look for another three people considered missing in Ilha Grande and another who is possibly missing in Angra dos Reis.
Efforts on Ilha Grande are concentrated on Bananal beach, where an avalanche of mud, boulders and fallen tree trunks, which opened a ravine on a mountainside, buried at least seven homes and one of the most luxurious hotels in the region.
In Angra dos Reis, firefighters focussed on the hillside neighbourhood of Morro da Carioca, where mudslides swept away several poor dwellings.
Deputy Mayor Essiomar Gomes announced Monday that at least 80 homes on Morro da Carioca will be demolished since they are in high-risk areas and that their occupants will be relocated to other neighbourhoods in the city.
He said state-owned savings bank Caixa Economica Federal has promised to make funds available for building 550 homes to relocate families who built their homes on steep hillsides and run the risk of losing them to mudslides.
Gomes said that rains over the past few days have caused losses of close to 250 million reais ($142.8 million), without counting revenues the municipality is losing because of tourists leaving at the height of the season.