Argentina: Severe flooding in the province of Buenos Aires

Prolonged heavy rain has caused rivers and streams to burst their banks in the province of Buenos Aires, flooding numerous roads and fields. Thousands of people have had to leave their homes. They are staying in emergency shelters or with relatives. At least one person has died and more are missing.

A woman walks through persistent heavy rain in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. It poured down for over 24 hours. Such heavy rainfall is unusual for the region. Since Friday, the National Weather Service has recorded five times more rain than average in May, a total of more than 400 liters per square meter.

The towns of Campana and Zarate, a few kilometers north of Buenos Aires, and other suburbs were severely affected. An important connecting road to the Bolivian border, National Road 9, was also flooded.

In Campana, sheep and cattle crowded onto a narrow dry footbridge between the masses of water. "This was absolutely extraordinary. It's the climate, it's changing," said Axel Kicillof, the governor of Buenos Aires, on television. Hundreds of firefighters, civil defense and police officers were deployed for rescue and evacuation measures.

According to the authorities, more than 7,500 people have been brought to safety since the rain began. Rescue workers used rubber dinghies and canoes to help people out of their flooded homes. For those affected, it is a catastrophe: "We've lost everything we had, everything we worked hard for all these years," reported one man.

This is not the first flood disaster in Argentina this year. As recently as March, 18 people died in torrential rain and flooding in the province of Bahia Blanca, around 600 kilometers (ca. 372 miles) south of Buenos Aires.