Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro

On 15 February 2022, the city of Petrópolis in the highlands of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, received an unusually high volume of rain within 3 h (258 mm), generated by a strongly invigorated mesoscale convective system. It resulted in flash floods and subsequent landslides that caused the d...

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Main Authors: Alcântara, Enner, Marengo, Jose A., Mantovani, Jose, Londe, Luciana R., San, Rachel Lau Yu, Park, Edward, Lin, Yunung Nina, Wang, Jingyu, Mendes, Tatiana, Cunha, Ana Paula, Pampuch, Luana, Seluchi, Marcelo, Simões, Silvio, Cuartas, Luz Adriana, Goncalves, Demerval, Massi, Klecia, Alvalá, Regina, Moraes, Osvaldo, Souza Filho, Carlos, Mendes, Rodolfo, Nobre, Carlos
Other Authors: Asian School of the Environment
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171477
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-171477
record_format dspace
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Geology
Land-cover
Susceptibility
spellingShingle Science::Geology
Land-cover
Susceptibility
Alcântara, Enner
Marengo, Jose A.
Mantovani, Jose
Londe, Luciana R.
San, Rachel Lau Yu
Park, Edward
Lin, Yunung Nina
Wang, Jingyu
Mendes, Tatiana
Cunha, Ana Paula
Pampuch, Luana
Seluchi, Marcelo
Simões, Silvio
Cuartas, Luz Adriana
Goncalves, Demerval
Massi, Klecia
Alvalá, Regina
Moraes, Osvaldo
Souza Filho, Carlos
Mendes, Rodolfo
Nobre, Carlos
Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro
description On 15 February 2022, the city of Petrópolis in the highlands of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, received an unusually high volume of rain within 3 h (258 mm), generated by a strongly invigorated mesoscale convective system. It resulted in flash floods and subsequent landslides that caused the deadliest landslide disaster recorded in Petrópolis, with 231 fatalities. In this paper, we analyzed the root causes and the key triggering factors of this landslide disaster by assessing the spatial relationship of landslide occurrence with various environmental factors. Rainfall data were retrieved from 1977 to 2022 (a combination of ground weather stations and the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation - CHIRPS). Remotely sensed data were used to map the landslide scars, soil moisture, terrain attributes, line-of-sight displacement (land surface deformation), and urban sprawling (1985-2020). The results showed that the average monthly rainfall for February 2022 was 200 mm, the heaviest recorded in Petrópolis since 1932. Heavy rainfall was also recorded mostly in regions where the landslide occurred, according to analyses of the rainfall spatial distribution. As for terrain, 23 % of slopes between 45-60 had landslide occurrences and east-facing slopes appeared to be the most conducive for landslides as they recorded landslide occurrences of about 9 % to 11 %. Regarding the soil moisture, higher variability was found in the lower altitude (842 m) where the residential area is concentrated. Based on our land deformation assessment, the area is geologically stable, and the landslide occurred only in the thin layer at the surface. Out of the 1700 buildings found in the region of interest, 1021 are on the slope between 20 to 45 and about 60 houses were directly affected by the landslides. As such, we conclude that the heavy rainfall was not the only cause responsible for the catastrophic event of 15 February 2022; a combination of unplanned urban growth on slopes between 45-60 , removal of vegetation, and the absence of inspection were also expressive driving forces of this disaster.
author2 Asian School of the Environment
author_facet Asian School of the Environment
Alcântara, Enner
Marengo, Jose A.
Mantovani, Jose
Londe, Luciana R.
San, Rachel Lau Yu
Park, Edward
Lin, Yunung Nina
Wang, Jingyu
Mendes, Tatiana
Cunha, Ana Paula
Pampuch, Luana
Seluchi, Marcelo
Simões, Silvio
Cuartas, Luz Adriana
Goncalves, Demerval
Massi, Klecia
Alvalá, Regina
Moraes, Osvaldo
Souza Filho, Carlos
Mendes, Rodolfo
Nobre, Carlos
format Article
author Alcântara, Enner
Marengo, Jose A.
Mantovani, Jose
Londe, Luciana R.
San, Rachel Lau Yu
Park, Edward
Lin, Yunung Nina
Wang, Jingyu
Mendes, Tatiana
Cunha, Ana Paula
Pampuch, Luana
Seluchi, Marcelo
Simões, Silvio
Cuartas, Luz Adriana
Goncalves, Demerval
Massi, Klecia
Alvalá, Regina
Moraes, Osvaldo
Souza Filho, Carlos
Mendes, Rodolfo
Nobre, Carlos
author_sort Alcântara, Enner
title Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro
title_short Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro
title_full Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro
title_fullStr Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro
title_full_unstemmed Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro
title_sort deadly disasters in southeastern south america: flash floods and landslides of february 2022 in petrópolis, rio de janeiro
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171477
_version_ 1781793767608549376
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1714772023-10-30T15:30:37Z Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro Alcântara, Enner Marengo, Jose A. Mantovani, Jose Londe, Luciana R. San, Rachel Lau Yu Park, Edward Lin, Yunung Nina Wang, Jingyu Mendes, Tatiana Cunha, Ana Paula Pampuch, Luana Seluchi, Marcelo Simões, Silvio Cuartas, Luz Adriana Goncalves, Demerval Massi, Klecia Alvalá, Regina Moraes, Osvaldo Souza Filho, Carlos Mendes, Rodolfo Nobre, Carlos Asian School of the Environment National Institute of Education Earth Observatory of Singapore Science::Geology Land-cover Susceptibility On 15 February 2022, the city of Petrópolis in the highlands of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, received an unusually high volume of rain within 3 h (258 mm), generated by a strongly invigorated mesoscale convective system. It resulted in flash floods and subsequent landslides that caused the deadliest landslide disaster recorded in Petrópolis, with 231 fatalities. In this paper, we analyzed the root causes and the key triggering factors of this landslide disaster by assessing the spatial relationship of landslide occurrence with various environmental factors. Rainfall data were retrieved from 1977 to 2022 (a combination of ground weather stations and the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation - CHIRPS). Remotely sensed data were used to map the landslide scars, soil moisture, terrain attributes, line-of-sight displacement (land surface deformation), and urban sprawling (1985-2020). The results showed that the average monthly rainfall for February 2022 was 200 mm, the heaviest recorded in Petrópolis since 1932. Heavy rainfall was also recorded mostly in regions where the landslide occurred, according to analyses of the rainfall spatial distribution. As for terrain, 23 % of slopes between 45-60 had landslide occurrences and east-facing slopes appeared to be the most conducive for landslides as they recorded landslide occurrences of about 9 % to 11 %. Regarding the soil moisture, higher variability was found in the lower altitude (842 m) where the residential area is concentrated. Based on our land deformation assessment, the area is geologically stable, and the landslide occurred only in the thin layer at the surface. Out of the 1700 buildings found in the region of interest, 1021 are on the slope between 20 to 45 and about 60 houses were directly affected by the landslides. As such, we conclude that the heavy rainfall was not the only cause responsible for the catastrophic event of 15 February 2022; a combination of unplanned urban growth on slopes between 45-60 , removal of vegetation, and the absence of inspection were also expressive driving forces of this disaster. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This research has been supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (grant no. 302575/2021-9), the Singapore Ministry of Education (grant no. Tier2 MOE-T2EP402A20-0001), the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) via its funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Research Centers of Excellence initiative, the National Institute of Science and Technology for Climate Change Phase 2 under CNPq (grant no. 465501/2014-1), Fundaco de Amparo a` Pesquisa do Estado de Sa~o Paulo (FAPESP) (grant no. 2014/50848-9), and the National Coordination for Advanced Education and Training (CAPES) (grant no. 88887.136402/201700). 2023-10-26T02:37:27Z 2023-10-26T02:37:27Z 2023 Journal Article Alcântara, E., Marengo, J. A., Mantovani, J., Londe, L. R., San, R. L. Y., Park, E., Lin, Y. N., Wang, J., Mendes, T., Cunha, A. P., Pampuch, L., Seluchi, M., Simões, S., Cuartas, L. A., Goncalves, D., Massi, K., Alvalá, R., Moraes, O., Souza Filho, C., ...Nobre, C. (2023). Deadly disasters in southeastern South America: flash floods and landslides of February 2022 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 23(3), 1157-1175. https://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1157-2023 1561-8633 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171477 10.5194/nhess-23-1157-2023 2-s2.0-85151442372 3 23 1157 1175 en MOE-T2EP402A20-0001 Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences © 2023 Author(s). This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. application/pdf