SAO PAULO: Torrential rains in southeastern Brazil have left at least 20 people dead and dozens missing in flooding and landslides, officials said Tuesday.
More than 400 people have been forced to flee their homes in the state of Minas Gerais since Monday's violent downpour.
The municipality of Juiz de Fora recorded 16 deaths, while four people died in the city of Uba, about a two-hour drive away.
The tragedy included a river overflowing its banks, landslides and buildings collapsing.
Juiz de Fora's mayor, Margarida Salomao, declared a state of emergency.
The municipality of a little over half a million people is experiencing its rainiest February on record.
Some neighborhoods are isolated, with at least 20 landslides, Salomao said, calling the situation "extreme."
"Civil Defense estimates that 440 people" have had to leave their homes and are receiving "support from the mayor's office for temporary shelter and accommodation," her office added on X.
Firefighters were responding to "flooding incidents, landslides, and structural risks along the banks and in areas near the Paraibuna River," which overflowed its banks, said Lieutenant Henrique Barcellos, spokesman for the Minas Gerais fire department.
He said rescue efforts were focused on finding victims and evacuating residents from areas at risk.
Images circulating on social media show rescue workers using backhoes in areas buried under mud, with homes completely destroyed.
Some residents captured footage of buildings collapsing.
The images also show streets and avenues inundated with deep, fast-moving water, as firefighters used special equipment to pull people to safety.
State authorities suspended classes in all municipal schools.
Brazil has suffered various tragedies in recent years due to extreme weather events ranging from floods to drought and intense heat waves.
In 2024, more than 200 people died and two million were impacted by unprecedented flooding in southern Brazil, one of the worst natural disasters in its history.
Two years earlier, a deluge in the city of Petropolis outside Rio de Janeiro left 241 people dead.
Experts have linked most of these events to the effects of climate change.
Juiz de Fora is infamous as the location where far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen in 2018 while campaigning for election.