Floods Ravage Southeastern Brazil and Kill 40 as Rescuers Race to Find Dozens Missing
JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (AP) — Families of those killed in the devastating floods in southeastern Brazil began burying the dead on Wednesday, as the death toll climbed to at least 40 in the state of Minas Gerais. All the victims found so far are in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba, about 310 kilometers (192 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. Some 30 people are still missing and more than 3,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes as of Wednesday morning, according to Minas Gerais’s fire department. Among the dead was 11-year-old Bernardo Lopes Dutra, after the rain caused his house to collapse. “It’s a tragedy that no one was expecting,” his father, Ricardo Dutra, said at the funeral in Juiz de Fora. He described Bernardo as “a boy with a big heart who, in his own way, touched everyone around him.” Dutra’s wife and daughter were still in a hospital. The Rev. Ananias Simões, the pastor at the church that Dutra and his family regularly attended in Juiz de …
