THE DEATH TOLL FROM flooding and mudslides in southern Brazil continues to rise as more bodies are being recovered by emergency rescue crews.

The towns Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis and Petropolis in the mountainous area north of Rio de Janeiro have been particularly affected by flooding and mudslides caused by prolonged torrential rain since the start of the year.

The destruction of infrastructure has been hampering rescue efforts, and the disruption to phone and internet services has made compiling accurate missing persons lists impossible.

In Nova Friburgo, civil defence forces have praised a group of amateur radio enthusiasts who helped to coordinate rescue efforts, the BBC reports. Local radio stations have also been helping out, by cancelling their regular schedules to relay emergency information and to read lists of missing persons.

Rain is still falling in Nova Friburgo, hampering rescue efforts, and is forecast to continue for another week. Bodies are being buried without being identified due to a lack of space in morgues.

President Dilma Rousseff visited some of the affected areas last week and described the disaster as an act of God. The Brazilian president  also criticised illegal construction for causing “damage to the health and lives of people”.

The number of people who have died in the flooding and landslides has officially reached 741, according to Reuters, but could rise up to 1,000 as at least 207 remain missing.

Al Jazeera reports that as the search for missing persons continues, the final death toll may never be known as there are not enough survivors in some poorly populated parts of the mountain region to report all of the dead:

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