Authorities in Brazil on Tuesday raised to 65 the number of people killed in weekend flooding and landslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

The heaviest precipitation the region had seen in more than a quarter of century also forced 44 000 people from their homes, many of which were still submerged in water and mud, according to the Civil Defense service.

In all, 1.5 million people were estimated to have been affected and eight towns remained cut off by waters and blocked roads.

Santa Catarina governor Luiz Henrique da Silveira, who has declared a state of emergency, said late on Monday that it was "the worst climatic tragedy in the history of Catarina."

He said he did not know "how many people might have been lost."

The Civil Defense service secretary general, Robert Guimaraes, said "nearly 80 percent of the region is underwater," though levels were dropping.

In one of the towns that bore the brunt of the deluge, Ilhota, the level of the local Itajai-Acu river had swollen 11.5 meters above normal.

Several mayors had declared local states of emergency to get access to funds needed for their desperate populations.

The disaster resulted from freak rains on Sunday that delivered a month's amount of precipitation in just five hours.

"We heard people crying for help. We also heard explosions. With the ground saturated, several gas pipelines exploded," one Santa Catarina resident forced to leave her home, Beatriz Heusi (30), told AFP by telephone.

Boats were the only means of transport in many areas, and witnesses spoke of the bodies of dozens of drowned cows littering the road near the town of Blumenau.

More than 160 000 people were without electricity and fresh water supplies were cut to several towns.

Other southern Brazilian states, principally Rio Grande do Sul and Espirito Santo were affected to a lesser extent by flooding and mudslides.

AFP