Brazil floods, leave at least 270 dead
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Days of flooding and mudslides have left at least 270 people dead in Southeast Brazil, with a mountainous region near Rio de Janeiro bearing the brunt Wedesday.
Local officials and media said 96 people died in the Serrana mountain region north of Rio Tuesday and Wednesday after extremely heavy tropical rain sent hillslides sliding into towns and rivers broke their banks.
One town, Teresopolis, counted 71 deaths, according to a tally given to AFP by the mayor's office.
Nearby petropolis suffered at least 18 deaths, a municipal official said.
Another seven deaths occurred in Nova Friburgo, another town in the region, local media reported.
At least three firemen died when they were engulfed by a wall of mud as they were carrying out a rescue.
The town's power was cut off and the telephone system had collapsed.
The deaths added to 13 counted in Sao Paulo Monday and Tuesday, bringing the overall death toll for southeast Brazil to 109 so far this week.
Teresopolis's mayor, Jorge Mario, told the GloboNews television station: "It's a huge catastrophe, a major disaster."
Images from helicopters showed torrents of water cascading down mountains over his town of 180,000 people, and houses swamped in tons of mud.
Mario said around 1,000 people had been left homeless and dozens of bridges and roads had been destroyed.
He warned the death toll could rise even further as emergency crews made it through to remote stricken areas.
"I've only ever seen this before on television. It's like a horror film. houses, cars were carried away by torrents of water. It was terrifying," said one local, a 55-year-old maid who gave her first name as Angela.
A local civil defense chief, Colonel Flavo Castro, called on locals "to take refuge in safe places: churches, schools."
He said a helicopter was being used to evacuate people cut off.
The federal government of President Dilma Rousseff has freed up 420 million dollars in emergency aid to help the region, the state news agency Agencia Brasil said.
Heavy rains common during Brazil's summer wet season were intensified this week by a cold front which doubled the usual precipitation.
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