© Pablo Porciúncula /AFPRescuers carry a girl, who had been trapped for hours under the rubble of her house that was destroyed by heavy rains in Petropolis, Brazil, on March 23, 2024
The death toll rose there from four to 12 on Sunday as rescuers advanced.
The most affected municipality is Mimoso do Sul, a town of almost 25,000 inhabitants located in the south of Espirito Santo, where at least 10 people died in floods, though officials fear the toll may yet rise.
State Governor Renato Casagrande described the situation as "chaotic," saying that so far it has not been possible to assess the damage in some of the more isolated areas, with fears the toll could yet rise.
At least eight people have been killed in the neighboring state of Rio de Janeiro, officials said, most of them caused by landslides.
Four of the deaths in Rio state occurred when the storm caused a house to collapse in the city of Petropolis, 70 kilometers (45 miles) inland from the capital.
Search teams rescued a girl buried for more than 16 hours there. Her father, who was found dead next to her on Saturday, had "heroically protected the girl with his body," a neighbor told AFP.
Source: AFP
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