Brazil Is Being Smashed By Massive Floods (Photos)

Just as the waters start to subside Down Under, torrential rains are wreacking havoc on another commodity-rich region.

In southeastern Brazil, sudden and heavy floods and mudslides have swept away homes and left survivors stranded this week.

At least 355 people are counted dead so far the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.

The rains have also paralyzed the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil's financial capital, where 21 people died in flash floods and mudslides since Sunday, according to the AP.

Rescue workers search for survivors after mudslides destroy towns outside Rio.

A rescue worker walks among debris after landslides at Caleme neighborhood in Teresopolis, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011. The mudslides killed at least 350 people and dozens more are missing. The mayor of Teresopolis said in a statement Wednesday that more than 1,000 have been left homeless


A river of mud and water flows through the streets of Teresopolis, a mountain town 40 miles north of Rio.

People walk among debris after landslides at Caleme neighborhood in Teresopolis, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011. Nearly all the homes in their Caleme neighborhood were swept to the bottom of a hill.


Survivors collect the bodies of people killed in the landslides.

People stand by the bodies of mudslide victims after heavy rain in the neighborhood of Caleme in Teresopolis, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011


Heavy rains bring Brazil's financial capital to a standstill.

Vehicles sit a flooded avenue after heavy rains in Sao Paulo, Brazil, early Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011. This week's rains immobilized Brazil's biggest city


Residents in a flooded Sao Paulo neighborhood seek higher ground.

Residents, one carrying a girl on his shoulders, walk on a flooded street at Vila Itaim neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011. Such disasters hit Brazil annually in its rainy summer season and unduly punish the poor.


A woman stands knee-deep in water at the entrance to her house in Sao Paulo.

Maria Carlota, 37, poses for pictures at the entrance of her flooded house at Vila Itaim neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011. Sao Paulo state civil defense officials say 11 people died when their houses collapsed because of mudslides


Heavy rains leave people stranded in one of Sao Paulo's poorest neighborhoods.

Residents stand at the entrance of a house on a flooded street at Vila Itaim neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011. Painted on walls, from left, a South Korean flag, a Brazilian flag and a South African flag. The disaster poses a significant challenge to Latin America's largest country, set to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.


Mudslides tear through Rio de Janeiro's mountains.

In this frame grab from video is seen an aerial view of a mudslide in Teresopolis, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011. The death toll is expected to rise as firefighters reach remote valleys and steep mountainsides where neighborhoods were destroyed by mudslides and flooding, said Jorge Mario Sedlacek, the mayor of Teresopolis, a mountain town just north of Rio.