Up to 1,000 people are missing after days of driving rain caused severe flooding in north-eastern Brazil.
Officials say at least 42 people have been killed and some 100,000 have been left homeless.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called a crisis cabinet meeting today and said the government would make federal funds available to help the homeless.
Alagoas Governor Teotonio Vilela Filho said: ‘We are praying for the missing to be found alive. But we are very worried because bodies are starting to turn up on beaches and on riverbanks.’
Civil defence officials in devastated Alagoas state said the Mundau River burst its banks in the town of Uniao dos Palmares, leaving at least 500 people unaccounted for there.
The torrents swept away more than 40,000 houses, entire bridges and streets, as well as rail lines in 22 towns across Alagoas.
Firefighters said entire towns on the banks of the Mundau in Alagoas that were ‘wiped off the map,’ while others were severely damaged or left cut off by floodwaters.
