Tijrias, Oct. 10 (BNA): At least 25 people have died and 52 are missing after five small rivers in central Venezuela were inundated due to torrential rains, Vice President of Citizens Security Remigio Ceballos said Sunday evening in a televised address.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said earlier in the day that Saturday night’s heavy rain swept large logs and debris from the surrounding mountains into the Tigres region, 40 miles (67 kilometers) southwest of Caracas, damaging businesses and farmland.
Rodriguez said one month of rain fell in just eight hours and the pumps used to run the community’s drinking water system were moved into the floodwaters.
The priority is locating people still trapped under mud and rocks around the city, Rodriguez said, while the military and rescuers have also searched river banks for survivors.
“We’ve lost boys and girls,” the vice president said from a flooded street in Tigres. “What happened in the town of Tichreas is a tragedy.”
President Nicolas Maduro said in a tweet on Twitter that he had designated the area as a disaster area and declared three days of mourning.
The streets of Tigrias, a town of about 73,000 people, were filled with mud, rocks and intertwined tree branches and surrounded by covered houses.
After the flood waters receded, he tried to help others “restore what was left of their business.”
One of the flooded rivers, the Batu River, washed away many homes, shops and a slaughterhouse, according to search and rescue authorities.
Carlos Perez, deputy minister of the country’s civil protection system, said in a tweet on Sunday that a thousand rescuers were searching for victims in the area.
Rodriguez said torrential rains also caused landslides in three other central states on Sunday morning, but there were no casualties.
This brings the total number of deaths in recent weeks to at least 40 due to heavy rains caused by the weather pattern in La Nina. Venezuela faced floods and landslides.
MI