![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
BBC MUNDO RADIO
Firefighters in Brazil have begun fresh rescue efforts to pull victims of a mudslide in the city of Niteroi to safety after record rainfall engulfed Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding area.
Brazil’s second city has been left in turmoil following the torrential rain, which has cut power lines, scoured craters into streets and turned roads into rivers as the rain swept down the hillsides, taking many shanty town homes with it.
The latest mudslide has swamped at least 40 homes in the neighbouring city of Niteroi, which has also fallen victim to the record rainfall.
Fire rescue commander Alves Souza described the rescue mission as “intense”, adding that two bodies had already been pulled from the wreckage.
“We’ve managed to recover two bodies and the work is very intense, given the fact that the volume of material we have here is very large,” he said.
The death toll from last week’s storms has hit 147, with another 60 people left unaccounted for in Rio’s metropolitan area.
In Rocinha, officials said 16in of rain had fallen so far this month - three times the amount normally expected for all of April.
The shanty town population of Brazil’s second biggest has been badly affected as rescue teams struggle to work on the soaked, steep hillsides that are home to a large portion of Rio’s six million people.
