Emergency workers continue to search for missing residents in a town reeling from recent floods.
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Published February 26, 2026
Authorities in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais have raised the death toll from recent floods to 46, leaving homes and towns covered in mud and rubble.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office released revised numbers Wednesday, adding that about 21 people were still missing. Forty of the deaths occurred in the town of Juiz de Fora, and the remaining six were from nearby Uva.
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Approximately 3,600 residents have been evacuated from the area and emergency crews continue search operations.
“Our family is in a desperate situation,” Jogián Aparecida, 43, a chef at Juis de Fora, told AFP.
She added that her aunt and two of her cousins were killed in the landslide, and that her cousin’s boyfriend and two children, ages 6 and 9, were missing.
“We have hope, but we don’t have hope yet, because it’s so difficult.” [to find them]and we have already lost two,” Aparecida said.
Torrential rains in southern Brazil caused waterways to spill over their banks and loosen soil on hillsides, washing away homes and trapping dozens of people.
Among those killed was an 11-year-old boy named Bernardo López Dutra.
“This is a tragedy that no one expected,” his father Ricardo Dutra said at the funeral, describing Bernardo as “a man with a big heart who touched those around him in his own way.”
Fire officials said it was unlikely the missing person would be found alive.
In Brazil, periodic heavy rains often cause deadly flooding, and poor communities and people living in improvised buildings are often at higher risk.
Flavio Clemente Rodríguez, a resident of Juiz de Fora, told The Associated Press that he had “never had any support from public authorities for anything.”
Margarida Salomao, the mayor of Juiz de Fora, said at least 20 landslides had occurred in the area since the rains started on Monday, and Brazilian meteorological authorities warned that more rain is expected in the coming days.
Scientists say climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of extreme weather events, including flooding. The South American country of Peru also declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after heavy rain and flooding hit about half of the country.
