According to the officials, seventeen people are listed as missing, with injured and some 3,500 displaced, while several highways and bridges have been destroyed.
The neighbouring states, Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, have also been hit by heavy rains and flooding, which are expected to become less intense on Sunday, although authorities say that landslides may still occur in the region, especially in the Belo Horizonte area.
The National Institute of Meteorology declared, as quoted by the news agency, that rainfall in the region has been the heaviest since records were first kept 110 years ago.
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