Sharjah24 – AFP: The death toll from violent floods and landslides that hit the scenic Brazilian city of Petropolis last week rose to 176 Monday, including 29 children, officials said.
Another 112 people remain missing, police said, raising fears the toll could rise further still as rescue workers continue digging through the mud and wreckage left by last Tuesday's torrential rains.
The new toll means the storm is now the deadliest in the history of the southeastern city, a picturesque tourist town that was the 19th-century summer capital of the Brazilian empire.
It surpassed another violent storm in 1988 that claimed 171 lives.
Nearly a week after the tragedy, 143 of the 176 bodies recovered so far have been identified, officials said.
Twenty-four people were rescued alive in the early hours after the storm, but there is little chance now of finding more survivors beneath the wreckage, authorities say.
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