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Around 100 people have died in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro after the most torrential rain for decades caused landslides and flooding.
A state of emergency has been declared and officials have warned the death toll may rise as many more are missing.
At least 33 people died in Rio de Janeiro city after 28cm (11in) of rain fell in 24 hours, while 33 were killed in the neighboring city of Niteroi.
Many houses Rio's hillside shanty towns were buried under mudslides.
Rescue teams have been scouring the hillside to find missing people and recover bodies buried under the mud.
With no let-up in the rain, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has urged residents to leave their homes if they are at risk of flooding.
Chaotic situation
Authorities say Rio's transport system is close to collapse, after traffic ground to a halt with many streets under water.
The water is receding, but there are still some floods.
The worst problem is from landslides: most of the shantytowns are built on the hillsides overlooking the city with very unstable soil.
Even if the rain is less intense the soil is still extremely wet, so the risk of landslides remains.
The topography in Rio favors these types of problems. It's one of the most beautiful cities in the world because of the mountains in the middle of the town, but it can get nasty when it rains.
Ten years ago a census found 12,000 people lived in high-risk areas, but there have been new developments since then so the number is probably much higher.
"The situation is chaos," Mayor Eduardo da Costa Paes said in a statement on Tuesday. "All the major streets of the city are closed because of the floods."
"Each and every person who attempts to enter them will be at enormous risk," he warned.
Paes said the preparedness for heavy rainfall in Brazil's second-largest city was "less than zero".
State governor Sergio Cabral meanwhile declared a state of emergency and urged people in high-risk areas to leave their homes.
He told TV Globo that to stay inside would be "irresponsible" given the risk of new landslides.
Flooding left another 12 people dead in Sao Goncalo, and one in Petropolis.
The continuous rainfall also forced Santos Dumont airport, which handles domestic flights, to close for two hours on Monday night, causing a number of delays.
Many cars were left abandoned on main roads throughout the city.
The head of Rio de Janeiro's civil defense department told TV Globo the amount of rain that had fallen was "more than any city is capable of supporting".
Paulo Marqueiro, a reporter for the newspaper O Globo, told the BBC it was like the city had "collapsed".
Houses had been brought crashing down by the floods and landslides, and there was no public transport whatsoever, he said.
Da Silva, who was visiting the city on Tuesday, blamed local officials for not enforcing adequate building standards in areas prone to landslides, particularly in shantytowns.
"All we can do is pray to God to hold back the rains a little, so that Rio can return to normal, and so that we can set about fixing the things in the city that need fixing," he told local radio.
The president said the work would include improved drainage systems.
Rio de Janeiro state has experienced a particularly hot and rainy summer this year, and meteorologists are forecasting more rain in the coming days.
In January, at least 39 people were killed by mudslides in the resort area of Angra dos Reis, half way between Rio de Janeiro and Santos.
PHOTO CAPTION
Site of a landslide in the neighbourhood of Ilha Governador, in Rio de Janeiro.
BBC
