The power was out in the towns north of Rio in Brazil, but lightning flashes illuminated the scenes as villagers watched neighbours’ homes vanish under a wall of mud and water, turning neighbourhoods into graveyards.

Armed men firing from pick-up trucks and a helicopter attacked a maximum-security prison holding some of Brazil’s highest-profile inmates, but were repelled by guards, authorities said.

Armed men firing from pickup trucks and a helicopter attacked a maximum-security prison holding some of Brazil’s highest-profile inmates, but were repelled by guards, authorities said today.