SAO PAULO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Six people, including two young siblings, were killed in flooding and landslides sparked by heavy rains that hit Brazil's southern state of Parana over the past seven days, the state civil defense agency said Tuesday.

Eight-month-old Nicolas Rodrigues and six-year-old Nicole Luiza Rodrigues died after their parents' car was swept away by floodwaters in the town of Pato Branco, the agency said in a report. The parents were rescued alive.

The other four drowned in swollen rivers in a rural area of Nova Laranjeiras, a civil defense spokesperson told Xinhua.

Some 38 cities in Parana were affected, and 2,257 people were forced to evacuate, the agency said.

The torrential rains caused the Parana River basin to temporarily suspend visits over the weekend to the Iguazu National Park, a popular tourist attraction Brazil shares with neighboring Argentina.