Landslides triggered by heavy rain killed at least 24 people in the mountains above Rio de Janeiro and prompted Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to call for tougher action to eradicate precarious dwellings. Rescue workers recovered the bodies of three children who were swept away by floods in the worst-hit neighborhood of Quitandinha, a suburb of Petropolis, where dozens of homes were destroyed by the landslides. Most of the dead, including two civil-defense rescuers, were buried under landslides caused by 42 centimeters of rain that fell on the mountainous region in only 24 hours, nearly double the March rainfall average in the area.
