巴西官员周三表示，里约热内卢州山区至少有78人因为山体滑坡和洪水遇难。
The city of Petrópolis was hit by a strong rainstorm on Tuesday. Mayor Rubens Bomtempo said the number of dead could rise as rescuers searched carefully through the wreckage.
彼得罗波利斯市周二遭遇了强暴雨。市长鲁本斯·邦坦波说，随着救援人员仔细搜查废墟，死亡人数可能会进一步上升。
Witness Rosilene Virgilio was crying as she remembered the calls for help from a woman she could not save.
目击者维吉利奥想起一位她无法救助的女性的呼救时哭了。
"Yesterday there was a woman screaming, 'Help! Get me out of here!' But we couldn't do anything; the water was gushing out, the mud was gushing out," Virgilio told The Associated Press. "Our city unfortunately is finished."
维吉利奥告诉美联社：“昨天有一个女人在尖叫，‘救命，救我出去！’但是我们无能为力，洪水喷涌而出，泥浆喷涌而出。不幸的是，我们的城市完蛋了。”
Petrópolis is a German-influenced city named for a former emperor. It is in the mountains above the city of Rio. For almost two hundred years, it has been a vacation place for people escaping summer heat. There are large, older homes of the wealthy along its waterways. Its mountainsides are covered with homes placed closely together. Some of them lack good foundations.
彼得罗波利斯是一座受德国影响的城市，以一位前皇帝的名字命名。它位于里约市上方的山区。近两百年来，这里一直是人们避暑胜地。河道沿线是巨大而古老的富人住宅。山坡上布满了密密麻麻的房屋。其中一些房屋地基不稳。
Governor Claudio Castro told reporters Wednesday that the situation "was almost like war." He said he was deploying all of the state government's heavy machinery to dig out the buried area.
州长克劳迪奥·卡斯特罗周三告诉记者，现场几乎就像是战场。他称自己正在部署州政府的重型机械来挖掘被淹没的地区。
The affected mountain region has seen similar disasters in recent years, including one that caused more than 900 deaths. In the years since, Petrópolis presented a plan to reduce risks of landslides, but progress has been slow.
受灾山区近年来也发生过类似灾害，其中一场灾害造成了超过900人遇难。自此之后的几年里，彼得罗波利斯市提出了一项降低山体滑坡风险的方案，但是进展缓慢。
The state fire department said late Tuesday the area got 25.8 centimeters of rain within three hours Tuesday. That is almost as much as during the previous 30 days combined.
州消防部门周二晚间表示，该地区周二在3个小时内的降雨量达到25.8厘米。这几乎等同于前30天的总和。
Video on social media showed the landslide carrying away cars and houses. They also showed water moving through Petrópolis and neighboring areas. The Globo television network showed houses buried beneath mud in some places.
社交媒体上的视频显示，山体滑坡冲走了汽车和房屋。它们还展示了流经彼得罗波利斯和邻近地区的洪水。环球电视网播放了一些地区被泥土掩埋的房屋。
Several streets remained cut off on Wednesday. Cars and household goods washed into lower parts of the city, blocking the way to get to higher places.
周三，几条街道仍然中断。汽车和家具被冲到了城市的低洼处，挡住了去往高处的道路。
"The neighbors came down running and I gave them shelter," bar owner Emerson Torre said.
酒吧老板艾默生·托雷表示：“邻居们跑下来，我给他们安排了住处。”
But under rivers of water, his roof collapsed. He managed to get his mother and three other people out of the bar in time, but one neighbor and the person's daughter were unable to escape.
但是由于河水，他的屋顶倒塌了。他设法及时将母亲及另外三人从酒吧中救了出来，但是一名邻居及其女儿却未能逃出。
"It was like an avalanche, it fell all at once. I've never seen anything like it," Torre told the AP as rescue helicopters flew overhead. "Every neighbor has lost a loved one, has lost two, three, four members of the same family..."
托雷在救援直升机飞过头顶时对美联社表示：“这就跟雪崩一样，一下子就塌下来了。我从未见过此等景象。每个邻居都失去了亲人，失去了几名家庭成员。”
Petrópolis' city hall declared three days of mourning. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on a trip to Russia, said on social media that he told his ministers to deliver immediate support to the families of the victims.
彼得罗波利斯市政厅宣布哀悼三天。正在俄罗斯访问的巴西总统博尔索纳罗在社交媒体上表示，他已经通知部长们立即向遇难者家属提供支持。
Southeastern Brazil has been having heavy rains since the start of the year. More than 40 deaths were recorded in Minas Gerais state and Sao Paulo state in January.
自今年年初以来，巴西东南部一直在下大雨。1月份，米纳斯吉拉斯州和圣保罗州有40多人遇难。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·埃文斯。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)