Brazil floods: 'I saw people trapped in their homes crying for help'

At least 32 people have been killed in landslides and flooding caused by heavy rain in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

The two worst affected cities are Juiz de Fora, where 12 homes were swept away in a mudslide, and Ubá, where a river burst its banks.

Rescue workers are searching for at least 38 people who are still unaccounted for and shelters are being set up for thousands of people left homeless.

Meteorologists say that the rain which has fallen so far in the region this month is already double that of the average expected for February, and more rain is forecast for the coming days.

A resident of Ubá, Lucas Gandra, told BBC Brasil that he had received the first flood warning in the early hours local time of Tuesday, when a friend phoned him to tell him that the local river was about to burst.

"At 00:07 the water was overflowing and by 00:20 it was already causing enormous damage. The water rose very quickly."

The city, which is located 300km (185 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, was already hit by flooding in 2019 and 2020, but according to Gandra, those floods were not nearly as devastating as the current one.

"I saw people who were trapped in their home crying for help and there was nothing we could do," he says.

"There was one house in particular, where I honestly thought we would have to witness the people inside drown."

More than 200 people were rescued, according to figures provided by firefighters, but Lucas Gandra says that among those who died were some people who had rushed to help others.

Carolina Magalhães, a dentist who also lives in Ubá, described what happened in her city as "horrific".

Having been alerted by a neighbour, she filmed the waters flowing through the street, and the items it was sweeping past her.

"First it was rubbish, then a freezer, a chair, motorbikes, lots of gas cylinders until even a van and a lorry floated past," she recalls.

As the flood waters started receding in the city, residents returned to homes they had fled, but many of them found scenes of devastation.

"Ubá is unrecognisable. I'm still trying to get my head around what happened," said Marcela Barbosa, a doctor who had been on duty in a neighbouring town when the waters rose.

"Everything is full of mud, the destruction is total," she said, adding that nevertheless locals were pulling together.

"All you see in the streets is people with muddy clothes, going out to clear up and help."

With additional reporting by BBC Brasil's Thais Carrança