'Scene out of war': Brazil searches for missing as flood toll rises to 85

Floodwaters have continued their assault on southern Brazil, with hundreds of municipalities in ruins amid fears that food and drinking water may soon run out.

Since the unprecedented deluge started last week, at least 85 people have died, and more than 150,000 were ejected from their homes by floods and mudslides in Rio Grande do Sul state, authorities said on Monday.

The search is becoming ever more desperate for 134 people reported missing in the devastation that also left 339 people injured.

The disaster, which experts and the government have linked to the climate crisis, has left the state resembling "a scene out of a war," the state's governor, Eduardo Leite, said on Sunday.

In total, 385 cities, towns and villages have been hit, many of which remain cut off from the world — without access to drinking water or electricity or any means of calling for help.

In Porto Alegre, the state capital with 1.4 million inhabitants, many suburbs remained underwater even as the sun shone on Monday.

"Last night, the water came up to the corner and had stabilised. Today, we woke up, and it was outside my house and rising," Neucir Carmo, a 62-year-old resident of the Floresta neighbourhood, told the AFP news agency. "We don't know how high it will go."

The Guaiba River, which flows through the mega-city of high-rise buildings and wide streets, reached a record high level of 5.3 metres on Sunday — well above the historic peak of 4.76 meters that accompanied devastating floods in 1941. By Monday morning, the level had receded slightly, to 5.27 metres.

The MetSul meteorological agency said on its website that some parts of Porto Alegre, the wider metropolitan region and valley settlements "will be uninhabitable for weeks to months."

Climate crisis meets El Nino

The deluge, which started a week ago, has swept away bridges and dozens of roads, complicating relief efforts that have to rely instead on helicopters and boats.

Some 14,000 soldiers are aiding search and rescue professionals and volunteers working against the clock as concerns grow about supplies of food, potable water and other essentials.

Donations of food and medicine poured in from around the country, and Good Samaritans have contributed the equivalent of about $7.6 million to a rescue fund.

The country's star footballers have mobilised in the drive to raise funds, with players like Vinicius Jr, Neymar and Ronaldinho adding their faces to a call by the Brazilian Football Confederation for donations for victims.

Brazilian climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino told the AFP news agency the flooding was the consequence of a "disastrous cocktail" of the climate crisis and the El Nino meteorological phenomenon.

According to MetSul, "The biggest concern is the indications... that between the 10th and 15th of May, there would be a new episode of instability with a risk of excessive rain in Rio Grande do Sul."

These would once again affect Porto Alegre and the Guaiba River, it said.