More than 500 people are now known to have died in floods in south-eastern Brazil, the country’s worst natural disaster for several decades.
Heavy rain has led to massive mudslides hitting several towns, resulting in thousands being made homeless.
Police say the number of dead is likely to rise further.
The death toll has now surpassed the devastating 1967 mudslides in Caraguatatuba, Sao Paulo state, in which up to 430 people perished.
‘Thousands trapped’
Rescue workers will resume searching for survivors in the mountainous Serrana region, north of Rio de Janeiro, later on Friday.
Many spent Thursday scrabbling with their bare hands through debris.
On her visit to the area, President Dilma Rousseff promised a shipment of seven tonnes of medicines.
In the Campo Grande area of Teresopolis, which was earlier cut off, rescuers found people pulling bodies from the mud.
In the neighbouring town of Petropolis, local resident Nelson Toledo told the BBC that some areas “had been completely devastated” by the floods and mudslides.
He said “thousands” of people remained trapped in their homes.
Morgues in the affected towns were full, with churches and police stations receiving bodies.
Officials in Brazil’s civil defence department have warned there could be hundreds more bodies yet to be recovered in Teresopolis alone, the Globo media organisation reported.
One area of Teresopolis, Campo Grande, remains cut off entirely and is yet to be reached by any rescuers. It is feared 150 people may be buried there.
One resident of Teresopolis, Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva, told the Associated Press news agency she feared she might have lost 15 relatives, including five nieces and nephews.
“There are so many disappeared – and so many that will probably never be found,” she said.
She said she had taken refuge at a neighbour’s house on higher ground and watched the water sweep away cars, tree branches and animals and destroy the homes of friends and family.
“There was nothing we could do. It was hell.”
A state of emergency has been declared in the town, after the mayor called the floods “a huge catastrophe, a major disaster”.
Sixteen more bodies were found there early on Thursday, but the most dramatic rise was in Nova Friburgo, where 48 more people were reported to have died.
Amid the death and destruction in Nova Friburgo there was one glimmer of hope: a six-month-old baby, reportedly named Nicholas, was found alive after 12 hours trapped in the rubble of a ruined building, reports said.
In Petropolis, Mayor Paul Mustrangi said the waters had ripped through some areas with devastating effect.
“There is nothing left. All the houses were hit,” he told Jornal do Brasil.
