Hundreds swept to deaths as flood havoc hits Brazil

Rescuers are searching for dozens more who are missing.

In the hardest-hit town of Teresopolis, where the civil defence agency said at least 146 people were killed, hundreds of family members crowded around the town's morgue waiting to identify bodies yesterday. More corpses were laid out on a street by the police station, covered by blankets.

Rains hit the town overnight on Wednesday, although no new mudslides were reported.

Rescuers are using heavy machinery, shovels and their bare hands in attempts to find survivors. At least 50 were still missing yesterday and one neighbourhood had not been reached yet by authorities.

In a neighbouring town, firefighters rescued a 25-year-old man who held his six-month-old son for 15 hours until they were both pulled out alive. The man's wife and mother-in-law were feared dead.

Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across Brazil each year, especially during the South American summer. The worst hit are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built on steep slopes with weak or no foundations.

In Teresopolis, 40 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, deluges filled creeks and the overflows swept over already water-logged mountain sides.

Brick and wooden shacks built on hillsides stripped of trees were wiped out in surging earth and water. About 1,000 people were left homeless and took shelter in a local school.

The mountains saw 10 inches of rain fall in less than 24 hours. More rain, possibly heavy at times, is forecast through the weekend.

Floodwaters continued to gush down the mountains for hours after rainstorms ended on Wednesday. Survivors waded through waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying to reach higher ground.

Many tried desperately to find relatives, although the phone service was out in the region.

"There are so many disappeared – and so many that will probably never be found," said Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva, a resident of Teresopolis who feared she may have lost 15 relatives, including five nieces and nephews. "There was nothing we could do. It was hell," she said.

In the neighbouring mountain town of Nova Friburgo, at least 107 people died, according to the Rio state civil defence department.

Among the dead were four firefighters who were helping in the rescue effort. Three other firefighters were listed as missing after their fire engine was hit by a mudslide. President Dilma Rousseff signed a measure on Wednesday sending 295m to towns in Rio and Sao Paulo states damaged during the recent rains. The money will go to repairing infrastructure and preventing future disasters.

The president planned to fly over the most severely damaged areas yesterday.

The mayor of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario Sedlacek, decreed a state of emergency. In neighbouring Petropolis, 34 people were confirmed dead by the Rio state civil defence department. The death toll in the region was expected to rise.

Heavy rainfall also caused havoc earlier in Minas Gerais state north of Rio, where 16 people died in the past month and dozens of communities are in a state of emergency.

In Sao Paulo, flooding has paralysed main thoroughfares since Sunday and 21 people died in collapsed homes, mudslides and flooding throughout the state.

Disease fears for Sri Lanka victims

Health workers in Sri Lanka are battling to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases following floods which have killed at least 23 people.

Pregnant women and young children are being taken to hospital to shield them from diseases such as typhoid and diarrhoea in districts where sewage has flooded into the streets.

Days of heavy rain have triggered widespread floods and mudslides.

Five more deaths were reported yesterday, bringing the toll to 23. One person is reported missing and 36 others injured.

More than a million people have been affected by the rains, and 325,000 have been forced from their homes.