Brazil (AP):

Brazil intensified efforts to ship aid to areas isolated by severe flooding as waters continued rising yesterday in a jungle state nearly the size of Alaska and more than 300,000 people remained homeless.

At least 40 people have died in the worst northern flooding in at least two decades, and two were still missing yesterday after an overloaded canoe capsized over the weekend.

While waters were receding in most states, they were still rising in the jungle state of Amazonas, said Dorothea de Araujo, the Amazon operations manager for the international aid group World Vision."The situation is very difficult because the state is so large and there are places you can't get to," she said. "Food and water are priorities because people are drinking contaminated water."

Authorities in the arid northeastern state of Bahia warned that more people could be forced to leave homes because of a new bout of heavy rain.

In the hard-hit northeastern state of Maranhao, some roads were reopened and officials expected to start distributing tons of food, medicine, mattresses and blankets airlifted in by military cargo jets, said Paulo Andrade, logistics coordinator for the state.