Torrential rain has sent tons of red mud and torrents of water rushing down mountainsides in towns outside Rio, enveloping homes of rich and poor alike and killing at least 257 people in 24 hours.
Some survivors clung to trees to escape the water and landslides.
Rescuers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands to dig through debris in a search for survivors on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how many people were rescued. At least 50 remained missing, and officials feared that figure would rise.
In Teresopolis, a town 40 miles north of Rio, the rain overflowed creeks and flash floods swept over already water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks built on hillsides stripped of trees, washed away in surging earth and water, leaving behind only a long trail of rusty red mud.
Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across Brazil each year. Especially punished are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built on steep inclines with little in the way of foundations.
At least 130 people died in Teresopolis, the local Civil Defense agency said. The mountains saw 10 inches of rain fall in less than 24 hours.
Floodwaters continued to gush down the mountains on Wednesday, though the rainstorm had ended. Survivors waded through waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying to reach higher ground. Many tried desperately to find relatives, though phone service was out in the region and many people were still missing hours after the rain stopped.
President Dilma Rousseff has signed a measure sending 461 million dollars (£292 million) to towns in Rio and Sao Paulo states that were damaged during the recent rains. The money will go to repairing infrastructure and preventing future disasters.
The president plans to fly over the most severely damaged parts of Rio.
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