Heavy rain kills 31 in Brazil

Brazilian officials are reporting that unusually heavy rainfall yesterday killed at least 31 people and left another 500,000 homeless.



They say about one-third of the deaths occurred in Ceara state in the northeastern part of the country.



Officials say most of the flooding occurred after rivers overflowed their banks cutting of some communities.



Local weather experts say they expect that the conditions will persist for another 10 days.