The death toll from two weeks of torrential rain in Brazil's southeastern state of Espirito Santo has risen from 14 to 17, officials said Wednesday.

A civil defense spokesman told Agence France Presse that the bodies of three more victims -- two men and a woman -- were found early Wednesday.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday flew over the flood-hit southeastern state of Espirito Santo, where at least 14 people have died in days of torrential rain.

A Civil Defense statement raised the death toll from 12 to 14 and said nearly 50,000 people were forced to leave their homes, up from the 46,000 reported earlier.

Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia and faces U.S. espionage charges, on Sunday lauded Brazil's vibrant democracy.

The rogue U.S. intelligence analyst unsuccessfully sought asylum in Brazil, as well as in other countries, in July before he was granted temporary refuge in Russia.

Fourteen people died Sunday when a bus drove off a road and plunged into a ravine in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, highway police told Agence France Presse.

The bus, carrying 50 people, was traveling from the city of Curitiba to Rio de Janeiro when it left the road in a wooded area near the city of Sao Paulo and fell down a gully some 50 meters (165 feet) deep.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday she will not weigh in on U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden's offer to help thwart Washington's cyberspying.

"I don't think the government needs to comment. (Snowden) did not send us anything," she told reporters. "I won't weigh in."

U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden offered to help Brazil defeat U.S. spying Tuesday but in an open letter said he needs permanent political asylum to do so.

The move was widely interpreted as a request for asylum in Brazil, including by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that published the letter in both English and Portuguese.

French President Francois Hollande, on a state visit to Brazil, on touted his country's readiness Thursday to share its technological know-how with the emerging South American powerhouse.

After holding talks in Brasilia with counterpart Dilma Rousseff, the French leader arrived in the economic capital of Sao Paulo to meet the local French community.

French President Francois Hollande, flanked by a strong business delegation, Thursday kicked off a two-day visit to Brazil aiming to boost economic and political ties with a key Latin American partner.

Accompanied by eight ministers, Hollande was to meet President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia and later in the day with ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Torrential rains unleashed floods and landslides in the state of Rio de Janeiro Wednesday, leaving one person missing and playing havoc with commutes and air travel in Brazil's most iconic seaside city.

Sirens sounded in Rio's hillside slums as authorities declared a state of emergency and made preparations to evacuate areas threatened by landslides.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, currently on a visit to Rio de Janeiro, said he opposes economic espionage on Washington's allies such as Brazil.

"We should never collect economic information under the pretext of security," Clinton said in an interview published Monday by O Globo newspaper.