Elaine Almeida looked at her aunt's ruined house in Sabara, a town in a southeastern region of Brazil where at least 45 people have died in floods that followed record rainfall.

"The water rose more than two meters, she lost everything," Almeida said.

She and her aunt tried pushing the door of the house open, but the mud inside was so deep they had to give up.

In Sabara, a town of some 130,000 residents on the edge of Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, homes built on the banks of the Rio das Velhas river were completely submerged by mud and water, their roofs either ripped off by the surging current or caved in under the weight of the mud.

The football pitch in front of the aunt's house has completely disappeared under a thick brown layer of mud.

"The water rose very quickly and she couldn't leave by the front door, she had to climb over three walls to escape," said Elaine, 36, who is putting her aunt up while she looks for a new place to live.

Elaine's own house was spared the worst because she lives in a hillier part of Sabara.

Like her aunt, 15,000 people had to leave their homes across Minas Gerais, where more than 100 towns have been put on a state of alert.

Most of those who died in the wake of the violent storms that swept the southeast of Brazil perished in landslides or when their homes collapsed in the floods and unprecedented rains.

The authorities reported 44 dead late Sunday but a 45th fatality was reported Monday and the toll is expected to rise further, with another 18 people still listed as missing.

- 'Critical situation' -

Gilvan Jesus Amorim, 43, only just escaped the worst. "I didn't managed to save anything except my own life," he said, looking crushed.

"There's nothing to salvage, I'll have to throw everything away," said Amorim, who has been living for three days with his wife and daughter at a neighbor's house, with no running water or electricity.

"When it started raining, I told my wife we had to sleep upstairs and we took a mattress up there. But a few hours later the water started to rise really fast and we had to leave," he said.

His street is strewn with household items all coated in mud: refrigerators, remote controls, mattresses, scattered clothes.

"It's one of the worst floods I've ever seen, the situation is critical," said Lucimara Soares, a 42-year-old cleaner.

"Lots of my friends have lost everything, they have nothing left," she said.

Firefighters and the Red Cross have launched a campaign to gather donations to help the flood victims.

Most of the buildings that were destroyed had been built without permits and in areas considered to be at risk. The National Meteorological Institute said the rainfall was the heaviest ever recorded in Minas Gerais since records began 110 years ago.

Madagascar flood victims struggle to pick up the pieces
Marovoay, Madagascar (AFP) Jan 27, 2020 - Muddy currents have submerged parts of the town of Marovoay in northwestern Madagascar, flooding homes, swirling rubbish around tree tops and killing dozens.

A week of torrential rains have forced thousands to leave their homes, swept buildings away and cut off road links to the rest of the poor Indian Ocean island nation.

All of Marovoay's rice paddies have turned into swamps.

"Everything has been swept away by the water," said Marie Jeanne Sofia, a 38-year-old mother of four.

"Our zebu and rice stocks have gone. The couches with their foam covers, the bed and even our mattress," she said.

"We only managed to save a few sacks of rice."

At least 32 people have drowned over the past week and 15,000 others displaced by the floods, local authorities said in their latest tally on Monday.

Sofia and her family have been surviving on fish swimming through Marovoay's flooded streets.

"Usually when I catch a lot of fish I sell them to buy rice and food," she told AFP, wading through the murky water with a net in hand.

"But here I can only catch a few, so I eat them straight away."

Madagascar, a former French colony off Africa's southeastern coast, is in the midst of a six-month rainy season that had caused widespread damage.

Global warming has increased the risk of flooding and tropical storms, as the atmosphere holds more water and rainfall patterns are disrupted.

The government declared a state of emergency on Friday, and deployed helicopters and vessels to assist victims.

- 'We have nothing left' -

Despite these efforts, Marovoay's 20,000 inhabitants remain blocked off from the rest of the island.

Mostly fishermen and rice farmers, they float around the city on canoes and swim into their homes to rescue some belongings.

"We were able to save our bed, our pots, sacks of rice and cutlery," said 14-year-old Falimandimby Sambatra, working with a friend to pull furniture out of the water and drag it to a nearby shelter.

"All our food has gone," he told AFP. "We have nothing left. No food and no house."

Further down the road, Romaine has lost all the equipment in her copy shop.

"It is the first time this happens," said the 25-year old, who lives with her husband, children and extended family.

"The entire house has been flooded," she said. "We need to start from scratch."

Neighbourhood chief Razafindrakoto Razafindrakot Patrice called for help.

"Almost all the crops have been destroyed. People no longer have work," said Patrice.

"We are making lists of people's losses and sending them to the government."

President Andry Rajoelina is expected in Marovoay on Tuesday after visiting the other northwestern regions of Boeny and Betsiboka last week.

"The state is mobilised to rescue and support inhabitants," Rajoelina tweeted on Friday.

He has promised to deliver food, care and medicines and to set up mobile clinics in the region.

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Death toll from torrential Brazil storms rises to 44: officials
Belo Horizonte, Brazil (AFP) Jan 26, 2020
The death toll from days of intense storms and flooding in southeastern Brazil has risen to 44, authorities said Sunday. In addition to the dead, the number of injured stands at 12 and that of the missing was lowered from 25 to 19, local Civil Defense officials said. The dead have yet to be identified. Many were buried by landslides or in the debris of collapsed houses, which in many poorer parts of Brazil are shoddily built. Officials said some 17,000 people have been forced to leave their ... read more