Heavy rains once again pounded parts of Brazil"s southernmost state on Thursday, ruining days-long clean-up efforts and flooding areas which had previously been untouched in Rio Grande do Sul"s capital city of Porto Alegre, writes the Reuters.

Record flooding over the past month has killed 163 people and displaced around 600,000 more. Another 64 people are still missing.

Rains had lightened up to a drizzle over the past few days, with stores beginning to open and residents working to rebuild.

Earlier this week, the city of Porto Alegre had asked residents to leave their trash out on the sidewalk to be thrown away. However, the fresh rains carried the trash out onto the street, clogging drains and worsening the flooding.

Porto Alegre Mayor Sebastiao Melo told reporters the city was not surprised by the downpour, but that it was “excessively heavy”.