Argentina Floods Kill 2, Displace Over 2,000 as Rivers Keep Rising
(MENAFN) Flooding in northeastern Argentina has left two people dead and driven more than 2,000 from their homes, with swollen rivers menacing communities across the region, a national newspaper reported Saturday.
Heavy rain has pushed the Parana, Uruguay and Iguazu rivers higher, hitting communities near Argentina’s borders with Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the report said.
In Chaco province, mainly in Puerto Vilelas and Barranqueras, between 1,200 and 1,300 residents evacuated, provincial Civil Protection Deputy Secretary Gustavo Santos said Friday. He offered a grim outlook for the weeks ahead.
“This will continue for a couple of months. The river will keep rising and falling constantly,” Santos said.
Neighboring Corrientes province recorded more than 1,000 evacuees, according to a Civil Defense report issued Wednesday. In the Parana River town of Paso de la Patria, floodwaters swamped several neighborhoods after a protective embankment gave way under the pressure of rising water.
Two rural workers drowned in Corrientes while moving cattle between islands to shield the animals from the flooding.
Authorities cautioned that forecast rainfall in the upper Parana and Uruguay river basins could trigger further rises next week.
In Misiones province, Thursday and Friday storms damaged more than 100 homes and shut roads and bridges as streams burst their banks, local media reported.
At Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border, the Iguazu River’s flow hit 10 times its seasonal average in mid-October. Several tourist circuits have reopened, but access to the Devil’s Throat, the falls’ most famous section, remains closed.
El Nino is a climate phenomenon marked by unusually warm surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
Heavy rain has pushed the Parana, Uruguay and Iguazu rivers higher, hitting communities near Argentina’s borders with Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the report said.
In Chaco province, mainly in Puerto Vilelas and Barranqueras, between 1,200 and 1,300 residents evacuated, provincial Civil Protection Deputy Secretary Gustavo Santos said Friday. He offered a grim outlook for the weeks ahead.
“This will continue for a couple of months. The river will keep rising and falling constantly,” Santos said.
Neighboring Corrientes province recorded more than 1,000 evacuees, according to a Civil Defense report issued Wednesday. In the Parana River town of Paso de la Patria, floodwaters swamped several neighborhoods after a protective embankment gave way under the pressure of rising water.
Two rural workers drowned in Corrientes while moving cattle between islands to shield the animals from the flooding.
Authorities cautioned that forecast rainfall in the upper Parana and Uruguay river basins could trigger further rises next week.
In Misiones province, Thursday and Friday storms damaged more than 100 homes and shut roads and bridges as streams burst their banks, local media reported.
At Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border, the Iguazu River’s flow hit 10 times its seasonal average in mid-October. Several tourist circuits have reopened, but access to the Devil’s Throat, the falls’ most famous section, remains closed.
El Nino is a climate phenomenon marked by unusually warm surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
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