RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- More than 500 people have died from southeastern Brazil flooding the country's president said resulted from God's wrath and man's decision to build illegally.
Rescue workers resumed their search for survivors in the Serrana region, north of Rio de Janeiro, Friday, working in a scene President Dilma Rousseff called "very shocking," the BBC reported.
Police said they expected the death toll to rise.
Heavy rain triggered massive mudslides that overpowered several towns, leaving thousands of people homeless.
In Teresopolis, the Brazilian military set up a field hospital, but the number of injured threaten to overwhelm medical services, local officials said.
"There are three or four neighborhoods that were totally destroyed in rural areas," Teresopolis Mayor Jorge Mario said. "There are hardly any houses standing there and all the roads and bridges are destroyed".
In Petropolis, resident Nelson Toledo told the BBC some areas "had been completely devastated" by the floods and mudslides and "thousands" of people were trapped in their homes.
Rousseff, who has authorized $480 million in emergency funding, called the destruction an act of God but also lashed out at illegal construction on unstable ground, such as in Teresopolis, where many Rio de Janeiro residents have summer homes, the BBC said.
"We saw areas in which mountains untouched by men dissolved," she said. "But we also saw areas in which illegal occupation caused damage to the health and lives of people".
Building houses in risky areas was "the rule rather than the exception" in Brazil, she said.
"When there are no housing policies in place where will a person with an income of up to two minimum wages live? He will live where he is not allowed to," the president said.
Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral said local governments were to blame for allowing poor building and illegal occupations.
"Unfortunately, what we saw in Petropolis, Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo, since the 1980s, was a problem similar to what happened in the city of Rio -- letting the poorer people occupy risk areas," Cabral said.
While some mansions have been damaged, most of the victims were "humble people," he said. UPI
