More than 610 killed in Brazil flooding, mudslides

RIO DE JANEIRO: Devastating floods and mudslides in a mountainous region of Brazil near Rio de Janeiro has killed more than 610 people, Civil Defense officials said Saturday.

An estimated 14,000 people were assisted by rescue workers or lost their homes in the Serrana area towns hardest hit about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from coastal Rio, civil defense figures showed.

The single hardest hit town was Nova Friburgo, where 274 people were killed. Nearby Teresopolis had 263 dead, 55 were killed in Petropolis and 18 lost their lives in Sumidouro, officials said.

Workers transporting bodies said they feared the overall death toll could more than double as rescuers reached outlying hamlets in the country's worst

Many still missing in Brazil floods

Death toll could rise sharply as more bodies found

* Disaster exposes major flaws in emergency planning

* Some criticize authorities for slow response (Updates with death toll, detail)

TERESOPOLIS, Brazil, Jan 15 (Profile Facts) - Dozens of flood survivors desperate for news of missing relatives lined up outside a morgue in the town of Teresopolis on Saturday as criticism grew of authorities' response to one of Brazil's worst natural disasters which has killed nearly 600 people.

Nearly four days after rains sparked floods and massive landslides, officials in this scenic mountain town are still struggling to cope with the scale of the catastrophe. The steadily rising death toll in the region north of Rio de Janeiro hit 591 on Saturday, Brazil's Civil Defense agency said, and President Dilma Rousseff declared three days of national mourning.

Cemeteries in Teresopolis have been overwhelmed by the number of bodies and Brazilian media reported that residents in isolated areas have been forced to bury victims themselves.

Mortuary officials in Teresopolis, where the official death toll is 257, are using two refrigerated fish trucks to hold dozens of bodies that have still not been identified.

Many residents fear their relatives are still buried under the surge of water, mud and rocks that tore a path of destruction through some villages on the outskirts of the town, suggesting the death toll could rise sharply. Authorities have not given estimates on the number of missing people.

(source:reuters.com)