Rio de Janeiro state’s government has confirmed 94 deaths after floods and mudslides swept away homes and cars in the Brazilian city of Petropolis.
Dozens most are still missing as recovery efforts continue in mountainous terrain.
“We don’t yet know the full scale of this, ” mayor Rubens Bomtempo said on Wednesday. “It was a hard day, a difficult day.”
More than 24 hours after Tuesday's deadly deluge, survivors were digging to find lost loved ones. Rio de Janeiro’s public prosecutors’ office said on Wednesday night that it had compiled a list of 35 people yet to be located.
Governor Claudio Castro said almost 400 people were left homeless. Searchers picked through the wreckage throughout the day and 21 people were recovered alive.
“No one could predict rain as hard as this,” Mr Castro said. More rain is expected, weather forecasters said.
Mr Castro said the rains were the heaviest in the city since 1932. The state fire department said 25.8 centimetres of rain fell within three hours on Tuesday — almost as much as during the previous 30 days combined.
Footage posted on social media showed torrents dragging cars and houses through the streets and water swirling through the city.
One video showed two buses sinking into a swollen river as its passengers clambered out of the windows, scrambling for safety. Some did not make it to the banks and were washed away, out of sight.
“I could only hear my brother yelling, ‘Help! Help! My God!‘” resident Rosilene Virginio told AP as a man comforted her. “It’s very sad to see people asking for help and having no way of helping, no way of doing anything. It’s desperate, a feeling of loss so great.”
Houses were left buried beneath mud while appliances and cars were in piles on the streets.
Petropolis, named after a former Brazilian emperor, is a tourist destination north of Rio de Janeiro that used to be where the country's 19th century monarchs went to escape the summer heat.
The stricken mountain region has seen similar catastrophes in recent decades, including one that caused more than 900 deaths. Works on a plan to reduce the risks of landslides have made slow progress.
Local authorities say more than 180 residents who live in at-risk areas are sheltering in schools. More equipment and manpower was expected to help rescue efforts on Thursday.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro expressed solidarity during a trip to Russia. Petropolis’s city hall declared three days of mourning for the tragedy.
South-eastern Brazil has been hit with heavy rains this year, with more than 40 deaths recorded between incidents in Minas Gerais state in early January and Sao Paulo state later the same month.
