The toll, revised downward from an earlier estimate of 13 dead, was given by the state's fire service, which said three people were missing in the disaster.

Mudslides in shantytowns in the north of the city accounted for most of the deaths.

In one case, a mother and her daughter perished when their home was hit. In another, a homeless man was drowned when a strong current carried him away while he was on a busy road.

The situation in Sao Paulo early Tuesday was "chaotic," said television network Globo.

It showed images of flooding from rivers that had broken their banks and cut several highways and principal roads, causing massive traffic jams in some areas for a few hours.

Motorists were seen abandoning semi-submerged cars and wading in waist-high water. Passengers in a bus waved at a helicopter.

In one northern slum where two people died, television showed a mudslide that carried away the face of a hill, knocking trees over and slamming into a flimsy home.

The southern hemisphere summer usually causes daily rains in Sao Paulo as humidity builds up. Flooding and deaths are common during the season.

But a cold front that arrived late Monday made the rains heavier and more prolonged, causing the overnight death and destruction.

The 10 dead listed by Sao Paulo's fire service added to six rain-related fatalities recorded last week, and more than 20 deaths in the entire southeast Brazil region since the wet season started in November.

In all, nearly 40 people have died, according to a tally of official tolls which includes five in the state of Espirito Santo and 16 in neighboring Minas Gerais.

More than 30,000 people have been forced to abandon their homes and find refuge with relatives or in state-run shelters.

The CEAGESP, an entity that runs Sao Paulo's huge warehouse system, said it was forced to close one of its depots for several hours after a nearby river overflowed.

Sao Paulo's Emergency Management Center said 125 areas had been flooded in the city.

It also said the amount of rain that fell on Sao Paulo overnight was as much as it normally receives in more than a week.

The rainfall recorded so far this month accounted for nearly the total average precipitation for all of January.

The center's meteorologists said the cold front had headed north, towards Rio de Janeiro, but the weather over Sao Paulo remained unstable, with more rain forecast during the day, albeit lighter than before.

"The risk of flooding and landslides remains high, given that the ground is saturated," it warned.

According to the daily Estado de Sao Paulo, a total of 473 people died across Brazil in rains and flooding in all of 2010, and 7.8 million people were affected.

Up to 20,000 Brisbane homes to be flooded: state premier
Brisbane, Australia (AFP) Jan 12, 2011 - Up to 20,000 homes in Australia's third largest city of Brisbane are expected to be hit by flooding as rising waters besiege the city, Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said Wednesday.

"I understand that we could see up to 20,000 properties in Brisbane affected by the water and people do need to take that very seriously," she said. "That is an extraordinary amount of people and homes."

Brisbane Mayor Campbell Newman confirmed that the number of homes expected to be hit by flooding from the rising river systems around the city had risen from 6,500 to 19,700 as he opened more evacuation centres for victims.

More than 6,500 residents of the stricken city were expected to take shelter in three evacuation centres, while thousands of others who live in threatened areas were expected to move in with family and friends.

"I don't want to be in a position where we can't look after evacuees who turn up on our doorsteps," he told state broadcaster ABC.

Under the new estimates, a further 3,500 commercial properties were expected to be deluged while 2,100 streets and around 30 suburbs in the city were at risk of inundation.

The Brisbane River, which runs through the eastern city, is expected to exceed the 5.4-metre (nearly 18 feet) level it hit in devastating floods in 1974 as the city faced its worst deluge in nearly 120 years.

Many businesses in the city centre were forced to shut down as energy suppliers prepared to cut power to about 100,000 city customers, as generation facilities were threatened by water.

Rains in the water-battered area of Queensland state abated for the first time in days on Wednesday, but Premier Bligh warned residents not to be complacent to the danger to life and property.

"People can take no comfort from a blue sky because the rain has already done its damage in the catchment of our river system and this water is coming down at great speed," she told the ABC.

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