Dozens of bodies were lined up outside a police station in the city centre awaiting identification before being moved to a church, local taxi driver Vinicius Bittencourt told to our correspondence. The bodies were there because there is no more space in the morgue, he said. People are walking in the street crying. I've seen people carrying dead children wrapped in blankets. At least 39 people also died in Petropolis, a picturesque town nestled in the mountains that served as the summer residence for Brazil's royal family in the 19th century. Another 13 people died in the town Sumidouro in the same region, officials said. Many stranded residents were forced to fend for themselves as rescue operations were hampered by destroyed roads and treacherous terrain.
Firefighters used heavy machinery to remove debris from roads that was blocking their path to some of the worst-affected areas. The situation is critical, but we have to advance, we can't stop, said fire department colonel Jose Paulo Miranda. Rousseff, who took office on Jan. 1, has made 780 million reais ($460 million) in emergency aid available for the rescue and reconstruction efforts. The government said it was sending 210 troops from the National Public Security Force, including officials to help identify bodies. Two Navy helicopters are assisting rescue operations and the Navy is also sending a mobile field hospital to the area. Landslides and flash floods are common in much of Brazil, often exposing poor urban planning and a lack of preventive action by authorities. More than 60 people died in mudslides in the coastal resort of Angra dos Reis in January 2010, and about 180 people died when landslides devastated slum communities in Rio last April.
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