Digital Desk: Authorities confirmed on Sunday that the death toll from torrential rains that created flash floods and landslides in the picturesque Brazilian city of Petropolis has risen to 152, as the pope expressed his condolences.
Rescue workers and individuals exploring for lost families in the southern city continued to dig through cliffs of mud and destruction, which President Jair Bolsonaro described as "war scenes" on Friday.
After Tuesday's storm, police claimed 165 individuals were still missing. Authorities said it's doubtful that any more survivors will be discovered alive beneath the rubble.
It's uncertain how much higher the death toll will rise.
They said 124 remains had been identified so far, including 28 youngsters.
Following his Angelus prayer in the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square on Sunday, Pope Francis extended his latest message of sorrow.
"I express my solidarity with those who have been affected by natural disasters in recent days," he said, noting "devastated" Petropolis and Madagascar, which deadly cyclones have lately rocked.
"Lord, welcome the departed in peace, console the bereaved, and strengthen those who assist," he added.
Tuesday's storm was the latest in a string of catastrophic storms that experts think are exacerbated by climate change.
The storm turned Petropolis' streets into raging rivers, sweeping away trees, cars, and buses, as well as triggering catastrophic landslides in the city's impoverished hillside communities.
Petropolis, a lovely tourist resort that served as the Brazilian empire's summer capital in the nineteenth century, received a month's worth of rain in just a few hours.
The city undertook a "giant clean-up operation" on Sunday, backed by 370 sanitation employees from Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi, who were rushed in as reinforcements.
To allow clean-up personnel to clear the mountains of sludge and debris still cluttering streets, the mayor's office asked citizens to stay home except in "absolute necessity."
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