By Stuart Grudgings RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Isolated towns in southern Brazil appealed for medicine and other supplies on Tuesday as the death toll from landslides and floods rose to 65 and many areas remained cut off from clean water and power. Days of heavy rain have devastated areas of Santa Catarina state, the heartland of German and Italian immigrants in Brazil, burying houses and their residents in rivers of mud, collapsing roads and leaving 52,000 people without shelter. Eight areas remained completely cut off, the civil defense agency said, as medicine, food, and other basic supplies began to arrive from the federal government and neighboring states. "Mattresses, food, blankets -- these are the main necessities we need to look after our displaced people," Joao Paulo Kleinubing, the mayor of badly affected Blumenau town, told Globo News television channel. "There is still a risk of landslides if it rains again so we are telling people in risky areas to leave their houses and seek shelter." Thirteen people died after being buried by mudslides in Blumenau, famous for its annual Oktoberfest beer festival, and Kleinubing said drinking water was expected to be cut off until Friday. Fifteen people were killed by mudslides in the nearby town of Ilhota. The civil defense agency said that 55,000 liters (14,500 gallons) of drinking water had been distributed but appealed for more donations of water as the most urgent priority. The state government said the floods and mudslides had affected 1.5 million people, leaving about 150,000 without electricity. Rescue workers and army troops were using helicopters and motor boats to reach stranded residents, with transport in the state paralyzed as many main roads were cut off. Television footage showed hillsides breaking away and sliding into rivers of mud. A lane of one main road collapsed after its earth foundations crumbled. Almost all the deaths were caused by landslides and about 30 people were missing, the civil defense agency said. "My son is lost, we don't know whether he's alive or dead," one man, identified as Mario, told Globo News before breaking down in sobs. The floods also shut down a branch of a pipeline carrying natural gas from Bolivia to Brazil on Monday, cutting off supplies to Santa Catarina and neighboring Rio Grande do Sul state, the company that operates the line said. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has offered all available federal help to the state, one of Brazil's wealthiest, and sent several ministers to the affected areas to assess their needs. The first deaths were reported on Saturday after two days of heavy downpours and weeks of steady rain. The Latin American country is in spring season when rains in the southern part of the country are at their heaviest. (Additional reporting by Pedro Silva; Editing by Todd Benson and XXXXX)
A view of the flooded Ilhota city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina November 24, 2008. Rescue workers rushed to help stricken residents in southern Brazil on Monday after landslides ...
