The death toll from landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains earlier this week in the Brazilian city of Petropolis in Rio de Janeiro state has risen to 105, with 140 people still missing, according to local officials.

After a large part of Petropolis was devastated by landslides and floods, the Rio de Janeiro civil defence officials said in a statement on Thursday that at least 400 firemen are working alongside Army officers to seek survivors. On Tuesday, heavy rains in the mountainous city, which is roughly 68 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro, prompted more than 50 landslides. More than 500 families were forced to flee their homes, and the electricity grid and water supplies were also interrupted.

Claudio Castro, the governor of Rio de Janeiro state, compared the scenario to a "war situation," while the mayor's office in Petropolis declared a state of public catastrophe and issued a warning to residents about the prospect of further downpours in the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation warned that the chance of fresh landslides was "very high," because the heavy rainfall raised soil moisture levels, which might lead to new large-scale precipitation.

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