Rescue efforts are under way in Venezuela after floods and mudslides swept away entire shanty towns and left over 1,000 dead and many more missing.

The army has been mobilised to help the rescue operation - President Hugo Chavez briefs paratroopers before they go into action.

A paratrooper carries a baby after the child and its mother were evacuated by air to Caracas.

Even when houses were left standing, streets were often swept away.

Others were evacuated by sea - survivors wait on the beach at Caraballeda in Vargas state to board a ship.

Vargas state was the hardest hit by the flooding - in Macuto, entire districts were destroyed, leaving only a few taller buildings standing.

People are still arriving in Caracas, as the death toll continues to rise.

The capital itself did not escape the destruction - a man in Caracas stands outside what used to be his house