Brazil's southern state of Santa Catarina was hit by heavy rains, hail and a tornado on late Sunday, which left at least 367 people homeless.

The local office of the National Meteorology Institute (Inmet) said on Monday that the tornado and the accompanying hail hit 14 towns in the state's mountainous region.

The largest destruction took place in the small town of Ponte Alta, where corn and soybean plantations, along with over 500 houses, were damaged. Two people were injured and at least 80 were left homeless in the town, where the mayor declared state of emergency.

The Inmet said that the tornado lasted about 15 minutes. But the exact speed was not available due to the absence of a monitoring station in the area.

The storms were concentrated in a region known as Itajai Valley, in the eastern part of the state, and in the capital city Florianopolis, where several landslides were reported and roads and bridges were damaged.

In the tourist town of Camboriu, where a state of emergency was also declared, the rain left 245 people homeless. A local hospital had to be temporarily closed due to a landslide.

In late November and early December, a huge flood killed 135 people and left over 78,000 people homeless in Santa Catarina, the worst natural disaster in the history of the state. Entire plantations were destroyed in the flood, leading to a sharp decrease in the state's agricultural output.