Floods Force Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay Residents to Evacuate Their Homes
More than 160,000 people in four South American countries have been evacuated due to severe flooding caused by heavy rains in the past few days. The rain is brought by El Niño that affected Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
According to Weather.com, non-stop rain has caused three rivers to overflow: the Paraguay River, Uruguay River and Quarai River in Uruguay and Brazil. Many officials are calling the recent flooding the worst in the region in the last 50 years.
Paraguay is the most affected country as President Horacio Cartes has already declared a state of emergency with at least 130,000 people evacuated from their homes and several recorded deaths due to falling trees and accidental electrocution. The Paraguay River reached its highest level since 1992 and has affected the capital city of Asuncion and the southern city of Alberdi, per Reuters.
"We are very uncertain about what could happen with the flood wall and we do not want to run any type of risk, so the population has been alerted," Joaquín Roa said, Paraguay's minister of national emergencies.
Evacuees are camping in temporary shelters made of tin and wood around the capitol in parks, public spaces, schools and military buildings. They have started complaining about the $3.5 million funds that are not reaching those in need and they want their government to find a permanent solution to the flooding that is happening very frequently.
In Argentina, at least 20,000 people were evacuated with half of them coming from the city of Concordia and at least two people died during the floods, per BBC. The Uruguay River was 14 meters above its normal level, causing floods in the Argentinean provinces of Chaco, Corrientes and Entre Rios.
Local officials called the flooding the worst in the last 50 years and newly elected President Mauricio Macri visited the affected regions on Sunday. "Fortunately, the rains have lessened, and the rivers have stopped rising," Macri said, who postponed his Christmas vacation to visit the areas.
The state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil had about 1,800 affected families from 40 towns was forced evacuated as the heavy rains cause Quarai River to overflow. President Dilma Rousseff has already visited the region last Saturday to inspect the damages.
In a report by Yahoo! News, a mudslide killed four people in two homes in the municipality of Itapecerica da Serra. Uruguay has at least 9,000 evacuees mostly from the city of Salto, but most of them have already returned home despite authorities warning that the flooding will not subside for the next several days.
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