ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION<br/> <br />STORY: Heavy rains triggered mudslides and flooding in Rio de Janeiro, leaving hundreds of residents homeless and at least one dead.<br/> <br />Various rivers in Rio's northern districts overflowed, flooding the poorest areas of the city and forcing more than 200 people to abandon their homes in the northern district of Xerem.<br/> <br />One person who was sleeping in the Xerem town square died when floods inundated the area.<br/> <br />Houses crumbled under falling trees and cars were overturned by rushing water. Streets turned into rivers and sidewalks were littered with household goods.<br/> <br />In Angra dos Reis, a popular holiday destination among Rio's most affluent residents, 72 people were left homeless after their houses collapsed under adverse weather conditions.<br/> <br />After one of the hottest starts to a summer in recent memory, a cold front will pass through Brazil's southeast region in the next coming days.<br/> <br />Heavy tropical rains are a constant occurrence in Rio de Janeiro's summer months, with communities located in high risk areas suffering the brunt of the rainy weather's devastating impact.<br/> <br />On Thursday (January 03), as storm victims headed to a shelter in Rio's northern district of Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro State Governor Sergio Cabral issued an order for a special taskforce to be assembled to deal with the crisis.<br/> <br />In 2011, hundreds of people in Rio's mountainous region of Teresópolis died, many of them buried while sleeping, after a major landslide caused by days of heavy rains.
