Heavy rains that hit northeastern Brazil, and fell with greater intensity in the region of Greater Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco, have caused at least 100 deaths, according to the latest figures released Tuesday by local authorities.

According to Lusa, the public security and social defense forces - led by the Pernambuco Military Fire Department and composed of the Civil Defense, Armed Forces, Federal Police and municipal agencies - also confirmed that there are still at least 14 people missing due to the rains that have caused flooding and landslides in the metropolitan region of Recife since Friday.

"To arrive at this number, we crossed a series of available information, such as the occurrences generated in the Integrated Center of Social Defense Operations, the rescues made in the affected areas, the forensics done at the Forensic Medicine Institute, and reports made by family members to the civil defense and social assistance services," said Pernambuco's Secretary of Social Defense, Humberto Freire, in a statement.

According to local authorities, rescue teams are working in four landslide areas and two places where two people have been washed away. All occurrences are in the metropolitan region of Recife.

"We are taking into consideration, for the searches, all the cases in which there is some report of a missing person. There are 14 confirmed cases, with names already identified and statements from relatives, and two others in which a resident has pointed out the absence or whose report is inaccurate, but which are also the object of attention," added Freire.

More than 6,000 people in the Recife region have lost their homes and had to be accommodated in shelters, according to the latest report from the authorities.

A state of emergency has been declared in 24 municipalities in Pernambuco.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro flew over the flooded areas on Monday and the government released a loan of 1 billion reais (about 198 million euros) to help the victims.

The Brazilian head of state, however, was criticized for saying that these kinds of disasters are "things that happen", after a similar tragedy that killed 233 people in Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, in February.

Other deadly floods occurred late last year in the states of Bahia, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais.

Between Friday night and Saturday morning, it rained the equivalent of 70% of what is normally expected for the entire month of May in some regions of Pernambuco.