Rivers rise again as rain batters flood-hit south Brazil

Porto Alegre, Brazil: River levels rose again Sunday as strong rains lashed waterlogged southern Brazil, where flooding has killed more than 140 peopl...

Porto Alegre, Brazil: River levels rose again Sunday as strong rains lashed waterlogged southern Brazil, where flooding has killed more than 140 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Residents of the state of Rio Grande do Sul were bracing for more misery from the new rains, after two weeks of downpours saw rivers burst their banks, swallowing up towns and parts of the regional capital.

More than two million people have been affected by the deluge, which experts link to climate change exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon. The levels of "practically all the major rivers in the state are tending to rise," state authorities said Sunday.

The probability of further flooding is "very high" in most regions of the state, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Warning for Natural Disasters (Cemaden).

The new threat comes as rescue operations are still underway, with some 130 people missing, while more than 619,000 were forced to leave their homes.