The heaviest rains in more than 40 years, which started on April 5, have triggered nearly 200 mudslides which pulverized shacks in hillside communities, killing 173 people and leaving thousands of people homeless in Brazil's second-biggest city.

Search teams pulled out 10 bodies and rescued dozens of people from the wreckage of houses swept away by a large slide late on April 7 that buried about 50 houses in the Bumba Hill slum in the city of Niteroi, across a bay from Rio.

The mudslide wiped out all traces of the houses, churches and stores in its path, leaving rubble and a swath of black earth amid the surrounding tropical forest.

Rescuers said the chances of finding more survivors was slim because of the lack of air pockets in the mud.

The deputy governor of Rio state, Luiz Fernando Pezao, said about 200 people lived in Bumba Hill but nobody knew exactly how many were there when the landslide occurred.

Brazil's federal government announced an emergency fund of US$113 million to help Rio state cope with the disaster, which paralyzed the city on April 5-6 as roads flooded.

Authorities say at least 10,000 houses still are at risk of collapse and the national government has sent security forces to help with rescue operations.