Dramatic video captured the moment rescuers rescued a 4-year-old girl who spent more than 16 hours buried in mudslides in Brazil.
Ayla da Silva was pulled out alive on Saturday morning by rescue team members in Petropolis, 70 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro, after disasters shook the southern part of the country.
The building where the child’s family home collapsed on Friday after heavy rains devastated the region.
While da Silva survived, 27 people across Brazil have died as a result of the floods and mudslides. Government officials have warned locals about the rain, noting that the area received twice as much in just a few days as expected in March.
Rescue workers carry Ayla da Silva after the 4-year-old girl was rescued Saturday morning in Petropolis, a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. The child spent 16 hours covered in mud, wrapped around the arms of her father, who was murdered
Vehicles overturned on a street in the southeastern Brazilian city of Mimoso do Sul, where heavy rains last weekend caused landslides that killed 19 people
A man cycles through a flooded street on Sunday after a rainstorm hit Duque de Caxias, a town on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro
Da Silva was found wrapped around the arms of her father, Douglas da Silva, 24, who was murdered. The child was one of five people rescued alive from the rubble of the three-story building.
Her mother, Beatriz da Silva, 25; her brother, Lukas da Silva, 9; and her maternal grandmother, Maria Casemiro, 66, were also killed.
“My son was a warrior, he spent all that time there and saved his little daughter,” Ayla da Silva’s grandfather, Roberto Napoleão, told local reporters. ‘You can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a son. It hurts so much.’
Governor Claudio Castro and mayors of Rio de Janeiro had been warning residents of possible bad weather problems since Thursday.
Residents applauded after rescuers rescued Da Silva from her collapsed three-storey home where she lived with her mother, father, brother and grandmother, all of whom were killed in a landslide on Friday
Douglas da Silva (left) and his wife Beatriz da Silva (right) were found dead under mud on Friday evening after their home in Petropolis was destroyed by a landslide
Beatriz da Silva with her son Lukas da Silva, who was murdered with her, and her daughter Ayla da Silva, who survived
A Civil Defense member holds Ayla da Silva after the 4-year-old girl was rescued on Saturday morning
Petropolis was hit by another 270mm of rain in a 24-hour period, double the amount meteorologists had expected for all of March.
“Our city is in a crisis phase,” Petropolis Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said on social media. “We have also declared an emergency decree due to the risk of heavy rainfall, with consequences in several areas, and the possibility that this scenario will continue in the coming days.”
Heavy rains continued over the weekend, killing at least 8 people in Rio de Janeiro and 19 others in neighboring Espirito Santo state.
The Espirito Santo state government said on Sunday that a total of 17 residents have been killed in the countryside of the municipality of Mimoso do Sul.
The rural town of Mimoso do Soul was hit hard by heavy rain this weekend, forcing 7,287 people to leave their homes. At least 411 residents became homeless
An aerial view of the flooding in Mimoso do Sul in southeastern Brazil
A man cycles through a flooded street after a rainstorm in the Uruai district of the city of Duque de Caxias,
Lt. Col. Benicio Ferrari, deputy coordinator of the Civil Protection, said Monday that recovery efforts in Mimoso do Sul were increasing after the waters receded.
According to authorities, 7,287 residents were forced to leave their homes and the homes of 411 people were destroyed due to heavy rain.
The storm also hit São Paulo state, where authorities rescued three people trapped in a car that crashed into a stream in the city of Lins on Thursday.
Firefighters used a rope to bring the group to shore and took them to a nearby hospital, where they underwent precautionary medical examinations and were later released in good health.
