Brazilian summer claims 69 lives in Sao Paulo

Brazil's Sao Paulo state is experiencing its wettest summer in 63 years, with flooding and landslides killing at least 69 people.

Brazil's Sao Paulo state -- South America's most important economic region -- is experiencing its wettest summer in 63 years, with flooding and landslides killing at least 69 people, officials said Friday.

Most of the fatalities, which have climbed steadily since December 1, have occurred in Sao Paulo city, where several neighborhoods and roads are underwater and some ramshackle dwellings have collapsed, according to the civil defense service.

Rescuers recovered the body of the latest victim: an 11-year-old who fell into an open drain and was swept away by the powerful current.

Inmet, the national weather service, said accumulated rainfall in the state looks set to surpass a record set in 1947, the state news agency Agencia Brasil reported.

Inmet meteorologists said the El Nino phenomenon -- which warms surface waters in the Pacific Ocean and is linked to rainfall across the region -- was to blame.

The near-constant precipitation has filled to capacity two of Sao Paulo's six dams, requiring the release of millions of liters (gallons) of water.

The two big rivers cutting through Sao Paulo, the Pinheiros and the Tiete, have broken their banks in parts, blocking adjacent freeways.

The Sao Paulo deaths added to scores of others in the neighboring state of Rio de Janeiro in late December and early January, including 28 killed on New Year's Day when a landslide hit a luxury beachside hotel.

South America's biggest city, greater Sao Paulo is home to 20 million people, accounting for nearly half of the 42 million who live in the entire state.