Brazil flooding and landslides kill dozens in São Paulo state

Heavy rains in coastal areas of Brazil’s south-east have caused flooding and landslides that killed 36 people and displaced hundreds of others, São Paulo state authorities said on Sunday.

Rescue workers are searching for victims, reconnecting isolated communities and clearing blocked roads that trapped an unknown number of tourists who travelled to attend Carnival celebrations.

Weather forecasts showed heavy rains would continue in São Paulo’s coastal area, challenging civil defence and fire department rescue teams and raising the prospect of a higher death toll.

The SP-55 highway blocked by a landslide in the municipality of Ubatuba on the north coast of the state of São Paulo. Photograph: Ubatuba Civil Defense/AFP/Getty Images

The federal government mobilised several ministries to assist victims, restore infrastructure and start reconstruction work.

São Paulo state declared a 180-day state of calamity for six cities after what experts described as an unprecedented, extreme weather event.

The mayor of Ubatuba said a seven-year-old girl was among those killed.

The cities of São Sebastião, Ubatuba, Ilhabela and Bertioga cancelled their Carnival festivities as rescue teams struggle to find those missing, injured and feared dead. Parts of the state received more than 58cm (23in) of rain in one day.

On Monday, the São Paulo governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, is expected to meet federal officials as they coordinate the response to the tragedy.

Operations at the port of Santos, Latin America’s largest, were interrupted amid wind gusts exceeding 55km/h (34mph) and waves over a metre high on Saturday, according to a local news outlet.

The president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was spending Carnival in Bahia state in Brazil’s north-east, was set to visit the main affected areas on Monday, his office said.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report