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"As of 6:00 pm (2100 GMT) this Sunday, the number of people killed as aresult of the rains has reached 79," the civil defense authority ofPernambuco state, where the affected communities of Recife and Olinda arelocated, said in a statement.
The disaster is the latest in a recent series of deadly landslides andfloods triggered by extreme weather in Brazil.
The number of dead has mounted steadily over the weekend, including dozensin landslides, as heavy rains caused rivers to overflow and torrents of mudswept away everything in their path.
The latest statement from the civil defense did not offer an update on thenumber of people missing, though the agency had earlier reported 56 peoplestill unaccounted for and nearly 4,000 who had lost their homes.
"We still don't have an exact number, but there are still reports ofvictims... who have not been found," Pernambuco Governor Paulo Camara saidduring a press conference.
"The search will continue until we can identify all the missingpeople," he said.
Authorities warned that rain was forecast to continue Monday, but in themeantime, while the storm subsided some 1,200 personnel -- some in boats orhelicopters -- resumed search and rescue work, state officials said.
Minister of Regional Development Daniel Ferreira urged caution in a pressconference Sunday in Recife, the capital of hard-hit northeastern Pernambucostate.
"Although it has stopped raining now, we are forecasting heavy rainsfor the next few days," he said.
"So the first thing is to maintain self-protection measures."
Between Friday night and Saturday morning, rainfall volume reached 70percent of what was forecast for all of May in some parts of Recife.
A man removes debris from a landslide area in the JardimMonte Verde community in Recife, Brazil on May 29, 2022
Images circulated on local media showed rescue workers and volunteersclearing heaps of debris in Jardim Monteverde, on the border between Recife andthe municipality of Jaboatao dos Guararapes, where 19 died Saturday morning ina landslide that ripped through precariously built homes.
Luiz Estevao Aguiar, who lives in a different municipality, lost 11relatives in the disaster, he told TV Globo.
"My sister, my brother-in-law, 11 people from my family died. It wasdifficult... I did not expect this," he said tearfully.
Nearby, Flavio Jose da Silva has been desperately looking for his stepfatherGilvan in the rubble of what was once his house.
Shortly after it collapsed, he heard Gilvan say, "I'm here, under theground."
"We hope to find him alive," an emotional da Silva said, pointingto a mountain of debris.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Sunday he would travel to Recife onMonday.
Over the past year, hundreds of Brazilians have died in flooding andlandslides brought on by torrential downpours.
In February, more than 230 people were killed in the city of Petropolis, theBrazilian then-empire's 19th-century summer capital, in Rio de Janeiro state.
Early last month 14 more were killed by flooding and landslides in the state.
Experts say Brazil's rainy-season downpours are being augmented by La Nina-- the cyclical cooling of the Pacific Ocean -- and by climate change.
Because a hotter atmosphere holds more water, global warming increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.
Risks from heavy rains are augmented by topography and poor construction in shantytowns built in steep areas.
According to meteorologist Estael Sias of the MetSul agency, the heavy rains lashing Pernambuco and, to a lesser extent, four other northeastern states, are the product of a typical seasonal phenomenon called "eastern waves."
He explained that those are areas of atmospheric disturbance that move from Africa to Brazil's northeastern coastal region.
"In other areas of the Atlantic this instability forms hurricanes, but in northeastern Brazil, it has the potential for a lot of rain and even thunderstorms," he said.
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