Terrifying moment police officer is forced to cling to the hood of his car after dam broke and flooded highway in Brazil following storms that left 47 people dead
- Video shows police officer Caio Viegas holding on to the hood of his car as flood waters swept it down a highway in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on Wednesday
- Viegas said he had stepped out of his vehicle when he saw water flowing across the highway before the wall of a dam broke
- He was briefly swept down the road and managed to remove his equipment before he could jump on top of the car and avoid drowning
A police officer has been captured on camera clinging to the hood of his patrol car on a flooded highway in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The dramatic footage shows Federal Highway Police agent Caio Viegas stepping out of the vehicle after he spotted water slowly flowing down the road while his partner remained inside on Wednesday.
Viegas recalled turning around when a dam located on the banks of highway BR-116 suddenly broke and sent water surging down the road in the city of Camaqua.
The shocked officer noticed water and mud rushing towards him and made a beeline for the car.
Footage shows a police officer hanging on to the hood of his car as it was being dragged down a flooded highway moments after a dam wall broke in Camaqua, Brazil
Police officer Caio Viegas said he had remove some of his equipment in order not to drown as he was being swept away by flood waters on a Brazilian highway
For a moment, Viegas was briefly swept down the highway and away from the car thinking he was going to die.
The quick-thinking cop somehow removed some of the equipment that he was carrying.
He fortunately managed to climb on top of the vehicle when it floated closer to him.
‘It was very complicated; we think a lot. But the main thing, we think about (is) staying alive,’ Viegas told G1.
‘I managed to unequip myself, take some of the weight off the equipment, so as not to drown.’
Viegas is seen holding on to the hood of his car as it was carried down a highway on Wednesday in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul
The wall of dam broke causing water to flood a highway in the Camaqua, a city in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul on Wednesday. No casualties were reported
Viegas and his patrol partner were not harmed in the incident. No casualties were reported.
The heavy rain was part of a storm that hit Rio Grande do Sul on Tuesday as a second extratropical cyclone formed along the coast, according to the National Institute of Meteorology.
An extratropical cyclone made landfall in Rio Grande do Sul last week and left 47 people dead.
At least nine people are still missing, according to authorities. The storm left 4,794 people homeless and displaced 20,517 residents in 100 cities
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