Ten dead, hundreds evacuated in Argentina floods
At least ten people were killed and more than a thousand evacuated in the Argentine port city of Bahia Blanca on Friday as torrential rains flooded homes and hospitals, destroyed roads and forced officials to cut power.
Eight hours of nonstop rain left the city of 350,000 people largely underwater, and forced authorities to evacuate the Jose Penna hospital.
Television images showed medical personnel evacuating babies from the hospital's neonatal unit. The army was deployed to assist in rescue efforts.
Around 1,321 people were evacuated to safety in the city, which is about 600 kilometers (about 375 miles) south of the capital Buenos Aires, according to Mayor Federico Susbielles' office. The national government authorized emergency aid of 10 billion pesos (about 9.2 million dollars).
The city received more than 400 millimeters (15 inches) of rain in just hours -- equivalent to what it normally gets in a year, 'something unprecedented,' according to Javier Alonso, security minister for Buenos Aires province.
'The biggest storm in Bahia Blanca was in 1930, which brought 175 millimeters of rain. This is almost three times bigger,' said Alonso.
'A wall of water'
Bahia Blanca's airport was closed until further notice, and officials cut off part of the power supply to reduce the risk of electric shocks.
The provincial government said it was sending helicopters, canoes, ambulances and trucks bearing food, water and equipment to the stricken city.
The coast guard was assisting in the rescue with inflatable boats.
'It was raining, and suddenly we saw the street was flooded. About a meter-and-a-half of water came into my house,' Flavia Viera Romero, who rescued her children from the deluge, told the LN+ channel.
The city remains on alert from the meteorological service for new storms.
Flood waters reached the wards of the Jose Penna intensive care hospital, one of the main hospitals in Bahia Blanca, forcing the emergency evacuation of patients and staff.
Images on television news and social media showed nurses and doctors with sick babies in their arms fleeing the hospital.
'It was raining and suddenly we saw water in the street. A wall of water about a meter-and-a-half high entered my house,' householder Flavia Viera Romero told the LN+ channel.
'We took refuge in a truck,' she said.
The streets of Bahia Blanca slope toward the sea. As tidal waters increased the current of the flood, vehicles and debris from wrecked homes were swept away.
Bahia Blanca has a sad history of climate catastrophes: in December 2023, a windstorm left 13 dead, collapsed homes and caused extensive damage to the city.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
29-05-2025
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Army Searches for Missing Man after Glacier Debris Buries Swiss Village
The army was deployed and rescue specialists were airlifted in to search for a man still missing on Thursday after a huge chunk of glacier crashed down a mountain in Switzerland, burying much of a picturesque Swiss Alpine village. Blatten had already been evacuated more than a week earlier when part of the mountain behind the Birch glacier began to crumble but a 64-year-old man was thought to have been in the area of the deluge of ice, mud and rock on Wednesday. The debris has carved a grey gash into the wooded mountainside, stripping it bare of trees and leaving channels of water seeping over the mass of rock and earth below. A thin cloud of dust hung in the air over the Kleines Nesthorn mountain where the rockslide occurred and a helicopter buzzed overhead, said Reuters. Experts were concerned that the debris was blocking a nearby river, causing a new lake to form and posing a flood risk on top of the rest of the devastation. Three rescue specialists have been airlifted to the site, Swiss cantonal police and officials said. The army has also been deployed to the area to assist, they said. Swiss officials were struggling to come to terms with the scale of the landslide, which officials said blanketed around 90% of the village. "This is the worst we could imagine. This event leaves us shocked," Albert Roesti, the Swiss environment minister, said late on Wednesday at a press conference in the Valais canton, where the village is. The incident has revived concern about the impact of rising temperatures on Alpine permafrost, even if environmental experts have so far been cautious about attributing the glacier's collapse to the effects of climate change. The degeneration of part of the Birch glacier in the Loetschental valley occurred after sections of the mountain behind it began breaking off in the past few days, and ultimately brought down much of the ice mass with it. Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, said that various factors were at play in Blatten where it was known that permafrost had been affected by warmer temperatures in the Alps. He added that the debris was damming up the Lonza river next to the village, saying this could pose a major challenge with up 1 million cubic meters of water accumulating there daily.
Al Arabiya
24-05-2025
- Al Arabiya
Thousands remain isolated as floods ease in eastern Australia
Tens of thousands of Australians remained isolated and thousands were without power on Saturday, authorities said, as conditions in New South Wales eased after days of heavy rain that caused widespread flooding. Floodwaters were slowly subsiding, but more than 20 emergency warnings remained in place, with the focus shifting to assessing properties and delivering supplies to cut-off communities. NSW emergency authorities estimated up to 10,000 properties had been damaged by flooding, mostly in central and northern parts of the state. Many communities were still isolated, with 50,000 people estimated to be impacted, NSW State Emergency Services (SES) said. 'We will continue to resupply those isolated residents by land, water and air as part of our multi-agency response,' SES Chief Superintendent Paul McQueen said. 'We ask you to be patient, remain in a safe location and please don't be tempted to drive through floodwaters or go sightseeing.' The death toll stood at five after the body of a man in his 80s was found at a property near Taree, one of the worst-hit towns. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was unable to visit Taree, as planned, because of treacherous access. 'Conditions remain critical with flood and evacuation warnings in place,' Albanese said on X. 'We're continuing to work closely across federal, state and local governments to make sure Australians get the support they need now and through recovery.' More than 600 flood rescues were carried out over the previous three days, prompting NSW Premier Chris Minns to praise the work of emergency services. 'We would have had hundreds of deaths if it wasn't for the bravery, the courage of emergency service workers in the last 72 hours,' he told journalists. SES Deputy Commissioner Daniel Austin said he expected the number of warnings to decrease over the weekend but urged motorists to avoid driving in floodwaters. He said stagnant water posed a health risk and that vermin and snakes could make their way into homes. The storms dumped more than six months' worth of rain over three days, according to the government weather bureau, smashing records in some areas. Although difficult to link to specific disasters, scientists warn that climate change is already fuelling more extreme weather patterns.
Arab News
24-05-2025
- Arab News
Thousands remain isolated as floods ease in eastern Australia
SYDNEY: Tens of thousands of Australians remained isolated and thousands were without power on Saturday, authorities said as conditions in New South Wales eased after days of heavy rain that caused widespread flooding. Floodwaters were slowly subsiding but more than 20 emergency warnings remained in place, with the focus shifting to assessing properties and delivering supplies to cut-off communities. NSW emergency authorities estimated up to 10,000 properties had been damaged by flooding, mostly in central and northern parts of the state. Many communities were still isolated, with 50,000 people estimated to be impacted, NSW State Emergency Services (SES) said. 'We will continue to resupply those isolated residents by land, water and air as part of our multi-agency response,' SES Chief Superintendent Paul McQueen said. 'We ask you to be patient, remain in a safe location and please don't be tempted to drive through floodwaters or go sightseeing.' The death toll stood at five after the body of a man in his 80s was found at a property near Taree, one of the worst-hit towns. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was unable to visit Taree, as planned, because of treacherous access. 'Conditions remain critical with flood and evacuation warnings in place,' Albanese said on X. 'We're continuing to work closely across federal, state and local governments to make sure Australians get the support they need now and through recovery.' More than 600 flood rescues were carried out over the previous three days, prompting NSW Premier Chris Minns to praise the work of emergency services. 'We would have had hundreds of deaths if it wasn't for the bravery, the courage of emergency service workers in the last 72 hours,' he told journalists. SES deputy commissioner Daniel Austin said he expected the number of warnings to decrease over the weekend but urged motorists to avoid driving in floodwaters. He said stagnant water posed a health risk and that vermin and snakes could make their way into homes. The storms dumped more than six months' worth of rain over three days, according to the government weather bureau, smashing records in some areas. Although difficult to link to specific disasters, scientists warn that climate change is already fueling more extreme weather patterns.
