LISBON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Two men were killed and at least one other man is missing in the village of Faial da Terra on the island of Sao Miguel, in Portugal's Azores Islands, following a landslide that buried three entire homes Thursday.
"This morning there was a mud landslide which affected three homes and four families were rescued by firefighters or managed to escape through a window," said the mayor of the Village Carlos Avila.
In a statement the mayor added, "Firefighters pulled out a family of five people from a bedroom, but the father was already dead. The mother and three daughters aged five, eight and 16 were rescued alive and unhurt."
According to the mayor, one home where two young brothers lived was "completely buried" and "a body of one was recovered around 6 a.m. this morning." One of the brothers around 30 years old is still missing.
"Rescue teams totalling more than 40 men, some using dogs, are currently searching for possible survivors amongst the rubble of three very old buildings over 100 years old at the base of a steep slope," the mayor said.
Avila added that the cause of the landslide was a "huge amount of heavy rain that fell all day Wednesday on the island and became more intense from 5 p.m."
The steep and hilly area on the Portuguese island is known for landslides often caused by seismic tremors and high levels of precipitation.
A local government spokesman told journalists that all of the Azores islands are under the orange emergency warning because of the amount of rain since Wednesday and other landslides in the same area are affecting roads.
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