Brazil flash floods leave 14 dead as mudslide buries a mother and six children

The rains in Rio de Janeiro state have killed eight children

Torrential rains in Brazil have caused a wave of flash floods and landslides, leaving at least 14 people dead including a mother and six of her children.

The downpours pummeled Brazil’s southeastern region this weekend, leading local authorities to call for the shutdown of a nuclear power plant. More rain is expected this week.

The rains in Rio de Janeiro state killed eight children in total and left another five missing. The National reported that a mother and six of her children – aged two, five, eight, 10, 15 and 17 – were buried when a landslide ploughed through their home in the Ponta Negra neighbourhood of Paraty. A seventh child was rescued and has been hospitalised.

The pictureseque, colonial-era city, the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Rio de Janeiro state, has been devastated by the flooding.

On Sunday, the mayor of the city of Angra dos Reis, around 150 miles south of Rio de Janeiro city, asked the federal government to shut down Brazil’s only nuclear power plant, saying nearby roads had been affected by landslides and flooding, jeopardising the plant’s emergency plans.

But Eletrobras Eletronuclear, the plant operator, said in a statement that its emergency plan was not compromised. “The obstructions on this road are outside the emergency planning zones,” it said.

Rescue workers at the site of a landslide where a mother and six of her children died in southeastern Brazil. A seventh child was rescued (AFP/Getty)

The southeastern states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte have seen more extreme rainfall events in the last 30 years which are linked to the climate crisis.

The mountainous areas are vulnerable to heavy rains which can destabilise steep inclines and cause landslides.

In February mudslides in the mountainous city of Petropolis in Rio de Janeiro state killed 233 people. During that disaster, more than 10 inches of rain (25.8cm) fell within three hours, almost as much as during the previous 30 days combined.

AP contributed to this report