Torrential rain tore through Rio de Janeiro's mountains, killing at least 64 people in 24 hours, the state's emergency rescue office said Wednesday.

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 where 54 people died. About 1,000 there were left homeless.