Venezuelan rescuers search for missing as flood death toll grows

Rescue members work following a landslide due to heavy rains, in Las Tejerias, Aragua state, Venezuela October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

LAS TEJERIAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -Venezuelans in the town of Las Tejerias, in the country's Aragua state, on Monday waited amid a rising death toll as rescuers searched for the more than 50 missing persons who were swept away on Saturday by devastating floods following heavy rain.

Rains on Saturday night swept large tree trunks and debris from surrounding mountains into Las Tejerias, 40 miles (67 kilometers) southwest of Caracas, and damaging businesses and farmland.