350 peopel killed in curent flooding

In the mountain towns of Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis and Petropolis, the reported death tolls are at least 168, 152 and 36 respectively, Brazilian media reported
Heavy rain began falling again early on Thursday as rescuers resumed their search and is expected to continue throughout much of the day.

The collapse of electricity and communications systems, combined with the destruction of many roads and bridges, has severely hampered the rescue work.

800 rescuers are conducting searches and the Brazilian navy is sending a field hospital to the area.
Morgues in the affected towns were full, with churches and police stations receiving bodies.
Officials in Brazil's civil defence department have warned there could be hundreds more bodies yet to be recovered in Teresopolis alone, the Globo media organisation reported.
One area of Teresopolis, Campo Grande, remains cut off entirely and is yet to be reached by any rescuers. It is feared 150 people may be buried there.
Sixteen more bodies were found there early on Thursday, but the most dramatic rise was in Nova Friburgo, where 48 more people were reported to have died.
Amid the death and destruction in Nova Friburgo there was one glimmer of hope: a six-month-old baby, reportedly named Nicholas, was found alive after 12 hours trapped in the rubble of a ruined building, reports said.


The heavy rains also killed 13 people in Sao Paulo state on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll in Brazil’s south to at least 270.
Hillsides and river banks in the picturesque Serrana region north of Rio buckled under the equivalent of a month’s rainfall in 24 hours, destroying houses and killing many people early Wednesday, rescue officials said.
Television images showed many houses buried in mud as desperate residents and rescue workers searched for survivors.
“There was no way of telling which house would fall. Rich and poor — everything was destroyed,” domestic worker Fernanda Carvalho was quoted as saying by the Globo network’s website.

The number of victims was expected to rise as rescuers find more bodies and reach more remote areas.

“Rescue teams are still arriving in the areas that have been worst affected,” he said, adding that about 1,000 people had been left homeless. “It’s the biggest catastrophe in the history of the town.”

Thousands Isolated

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed a decree releasing 780 million reais in reconstruction funds for the affected areas. She was due to fly over the region on Thursday.

Thousands of people in the region were isolated by the floodwaters and cut off from power and telephone contact.

The downpour caused at least one river to burst its banks, submerging cars and destroying houses in Teresopolis, television images showed.

Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral said in a statement he had asked the Navy for aircraft to take rescue crews and equipment to the region, which was partially cut off from Rio by road.

Buses and trucks were shown stranded on streets with floodwaters reaching up to their windows.