A 12-year-old boy is among the dead after the landslides struck residential areas in the capital of Brazil`s northeastern Bahia state, according to police.
Seven died in the San Martin area of the city, and five others in the district of Bom Juá, as landslides destroyed buildings and caused others to collapse, burying a number of victims alive.
At least eight people have been pulled alive from the mud and debris. At 5 p.m. local time (GMT 2100), seven victims were still unaccounted for, fire services told the G1 news portal.
Ninety smaller landslips have been reported and at least six buildings have collapsed.
In other parts of this key coastal city of 3 million inhabitants, roads were inundated and two hospitals were flooded, with patients rescued by local emergency services, using boats and helicopters, and transferred to other medical units.
Schools in the affected areas have canceled classes. Events in the city have also been called off.
Torrential rains had saturated the area throughout the early hours of the morning and have continued to hamper rescue efforts.
Nearly 9 inches (200 millimeters) of rain fell in San Martin in the last 24 hours, according to local authorities. The total rainfall expected in the area for the month is around 12 inches (300 millimeters). Prior to the incident, the state had already seen above-average rainfall in the last month, according to local meteorological services.
Local media reported victims used canoes and surfboards to escape flood waters.
Landslides are seen annually in the mountainous regions north of Rio de Janeiro, in the southeast of Brazil, during the hottest summer months of January and February, when flash floods have regularly destroyed homes and claimed lives.
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