PETROPOLIS, Brazil —

       Rio de Janeiro state’s government has confirmed 94 deaths from floods and mudslides that swept away homes and cars in the city of Petropolis. But even as families prepared to bury their dead, it was unclear Thursday how many bodies remained trapped in the mud.

       Rubens Bomtempo, mayor of the city nestled in the mountains, didn’t even offer an estimate of the number of people missing, with recovery efforts still ongoing.

       “We don’t yet know the full scale of this,” Bomtempo said at a news conference Wednesday. “It was a hard day, a difficult day.”

       More than 24 hours after the deadly deluge early Tuesday, survivors were digging to find lost loved ones. Rio de Janeiro’s public prosecutors’ office said in a statement Wednesday night that it had compiled a list of 35 people yet to be located.

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       Video posted on social media showed torrents of water dragging cars and houses through the streets and swirling through the city. One video showed two buses sinking into a swollen river as its passengers clambered out of the windows, scrambling for safety. Some didn’t make it to the banks and were washed out of sight.

       On Wednesday morning, houses were left buried beneath mud while appliances and cars were in piles on the streets.

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       Petropolis, named for a former Brazilian emperor, has been a refuge for residents of Rio de Janeiro keen to escape the summer heat and tourists keen to explore the so-called Imperial City.

       Its prosperity has also drawn poorer residents from Rio’s poorer regions. Its population grew haphazardly, with the city’s hillsides now covered with small residences packed tightly together. Many are in areas unfit for structures and made more vulnerable by deforestation and inadequate drainage.

       The state fire department said slightly more than 10 inches of rain fell within three hours Tuesday -- almost as much as during the previous 30 days. Rio de Janeiro’s Gov. Claudio Castro said in a news conference that the rains were the worst Petropolis has received since 1932.

       “No one could predict rain as hard as this,” Castro said. More rain is expected through the rest of the week, according to weather forecasters.

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       Castro said that almost 400 people were left homeless and 24 people were recovered alive.

       They were fortunate, and they were few.

       “I could only hear my brother yelling, ‘Help! Help! My God!‘” resident Rosilene Virginia told the Associated Press as a man comforted her. “It’s very sad to see people asking for help and having no way of helping, no way of doing anything. It’s desperate, a feeling of loss so great.”

       The region has seen similar catastrophes in recent decades, including one that caused more than 900 deaths in 2011. In the years since, Petropolis presented a plan to reduce risks of landslides, but works have been advancing only slowly. The plan, presented in 2017, was based on an analysis determining that 18% of the city’s territory was at high risk of landslides and flooding.

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       Local authorities say more than 180 residents who live in at-risk areas are sheltering in schools. More equipment and manpower is expected to help rescue efforts Thursday.

       Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro expressed solidarity while on a trip to Russia. Petropolis’ City Hall declared three days of mourning for the tragedy.

       Southeastern Brazil has been punished with heavy rains since the start of the year, with more than 40 deaths recorded in incidents in Minas Gerais state in early January and in Sao Paulo state later in the month.