Argentina declares mourning after floods kill 54

PanARMENIAN.Net - The government in Argentina has declared three days of national mourning after flash floods killed 54 people, BBC News reported.

One of the heaviest storms recorded moved through the province hitting both the capital, Buenos Aires, and the city of La Plata. At least 48 people were killed in La Plata and six others in Buenos Aires.

The provincial governor Daniel Scioli said La Plata had "never seen anything like it". More bodies were being found as flood waters receded, he added.

Around 40cm (16in) of rain fell on La Plata in a short period late on Tuesday, April 2 night and the early hours of Wednesday. Buenos Aires had earlier been hit by more than 15cm of rainfall.

Thousands of people have been moved from their homes.

Residents have described spending nights on rooftops to escape the deluge while the coastguard used boats to help people who were stranded.

Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, visited Tolosa, the worst affected area in La Plata, some 32 miles (52km) south of the capital. The president's mother was among those moved out of their homes.

She spoke to some of the victims of the floods and promised to send police reinforcements. "I know there is fear of looting," she said.

Before her arrival, dozens of people had looted a supermarket in La Plata, while others blocked roads demanding greater assistance from the authorities.

The city's oil refinery was flooded and then had to close due to a fire. YPF, the company which runs the facility, said "an extraordinary accumulation of rainwater and power outages in the entire refinery complex" caused the fire.

In Buenos Aires, one of those who died was a worker for the city's underground system who was electrocuted while trying to pump water from a flooded station.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri said about 350,000 people had been affected by the torrents of rain.

Thousands of cars were carried away by floods and hundreds of families had to be evacuated from their homes.

The city authorities said it was the heaviest April rainfall in a century. More rain was expected to fall before the weather cleared on Thursday, forecasters said.