Torrential rain left at least 10 people dead in Rio de Janeiro, officials said Tuesday, as emergency workers rescued people trapped by the downpour and clean-up efforts gathered pace.
The unusually heavy rain began Monday evening and continued into Tuesday, triggering widespread flash flooding that turned some streets into raging rivers, toppled trees and swept away cars as the state emergency agency declared a crisis.
The southern zone of the city, which includes the tourist hot-spots Copacabana and Ipanema as well as several impoverished favela areas, has been hardest hit.
At least 10 people have died following massive mudslides in Rio de Janeiro following heavy rains over the past week
Poorly-built homes were washed away following heavy storms which locals are describing as unprecedented
Emotional locals supported each other as the desperate search for missing friends and relatives continued
Heavy runoff from neighboring hills gushed through some apartment buildings and shops, leaving behind mud and debris.
The bodies of three people were found in a car buried behind an upmarket shopping center on Tuesday afternoon, while two women died when a house in a favela collapsed, the Fire Department said in a statement.
The other victims included a man who died after he was electrocuted in a house and another who was caught in a torrent of water.
The ferocity of the storm stunned some residents, who are long used to wild weather battering their city.
'I've never seen or witnessed anything like this. I've seen it happen elsewhere but never here,' Guillerme de Oliveira, 59, told AFP.
'I'm really amazed at all of this.'
The rescuers continued work despite the threat of further landslides and flash floods which hit the city
At least ten bodies have so far been recovered although the death toll is expected to increase as the search continues
Cars and buses were crushed by fallen trees while sections of streets were ripped up
