Cyclone in Brazil: Incredible moment when agent rescues a family from the roof of their flooded home after an extratropical storm killed 21 people
- An extratropical cyclone made landfall in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul on Monday; At least 21 people have been confirmed dead
- State civil defense said the storm displaced 2,984 people and left 1,650 residents homeless
- The cyclone also killed one person in the nearby state of Santa Catarina
This is the heroic moment when police rescued a family, including a child, from the roof of their home after an extratropical cyclone made landfall in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, killing 21 people.
Dramatic footage shows a police officer being lowered onto the roof of a residence in the Roca Sales municipality on Tuesday after the River Taquari burst its banks.
The child was evacuated first before police returned for his parents and an elderly woman.
“We never imagined that a situation like this would end up in our city,” the boy’s mother, Jaquisele dos Santos, told Brazilian news channel G1. ‘Pharmacists, markets and lots of people asking for help on the roofs.
A police officer prepares to evacuate a child from a rooftop in the southern Brazilian city of Roca Sales on Tuesday, a day after an extratropical cyclone hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul, killing 22 people
Delve Francescatto (left) and his wife Ironi Godoi (right) were killed Monday in Ibiraiaras, Brazil, when they tried to cross a river and were swept away by a strong current that destroyed their vehicle
According to the Rio Grande do Sul Civil Defense, the extratropical cyclone displaced 2,984 people and left 1,650 residents homeless.
A separate helicopter rescue ended in tragedy in the town of Lajeado on Tuesday when the cable holding a military police officer and an elderly woman snapped.
Both fell into a river, where the woman perished in the fall. The officer survived and was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for serious injuries.
Married farmer couple Delve Francescatto, 50, and his wife Ironi Godoi, 44, were killed Monday in the town of Ibiraiaras when they tried to cross a river and were dragged downstream in their car.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told reporters that 15 people were found dead in a house in the municipality of Mucum.
The storm formed Monday night and caused severe damage in 67 cities, according to Rio Grande do Sul Civil Protection.
Flood water also caused the collapse of a vehicular bridge in the Roca Sales on Tuesday morning.
A bridge in the town of Roca Sales in Rio Grande do Sul was destroyed by flooding on Tuesday
The cyclone displaced 2,984 people and left 1,650 residents homeless. Classes were suspended in at least 29 cities, according to the education ministry.
The storm also killed a man driving a vehicle when a eucalyptus tree crushed it in the state of Santa Catarina.
Brazilian authorities expected the storm to dissipate from Brazil on Tuesday.
Extratropical cyclones ‘have cold air at their core’ and ‘derive their energy from the release of potential energy when cold and warm air masses interact,” according to the National Weather Service.
The storm can develop over land or in the ocean and is always connected by one or more fronts. The wind can be’as weak as a tropical depression, or as strong as a hurricane.’