Aerial view of a flooded area in the municipality of Itapevi, some 41 km from Sao Paulo. (AFP Photo)
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is flying over areas that have been punished for the past two days by downpours that caused heavy flooding and mudslides that killed at last 20 people in the state of Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo's fire department says that 18 of the victims were killed in mudslides and the other two drowned in the floodwaters that hit more than 10 cities in the outskirts of the Sao Paulo metropolitan area.
At least five people are reported missing following the heavy rains that began late Thursday and continued Friday.
Rousseff was doing the flyover on Saturday.
The rains shut down Sao Paulo's International airport for six hours on Thursday and halted commuter train service for several hours.