Death toll from landslides, flooding climbs to 24 in Brazil

The death toll from landslides and flooding set off by heavy rains in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state has reached 24 as firefighters continue pulling bodies from the mud

FRANCO DA ROCHA, Brazil -- The death toll from landslides and flooding set off by heavy rains in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state reached 24 on Monday as firefighters continued pulling bodies from the mud.

Brazil’s most populous state was blasted with rain over the weekend, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced from their homes. The death toll had stood at 19 late Sunday, according to a statement from the civil defense authority.

”(I’m looking for) my nephew, his wife and a 2-year-old child,” Cicero Pereira, 54, told The Associated Press beside a disaster site in the city of Franco da Rocha. “They said the bodies are still there under the mud, but until now they couldn’t recover them.”

Nelito Santos Bonfim, a 69-year-old resident, told AP he barely escaped with his life.