Death toll at 7 as 38 000 flee floods

BUENOS AIRES – Rising rivers in three rain-soaked Argentine provinces have forced some 38 000 people to flee their homes as police on Saturday reported seven deaths from the flooding.

Civil defence officials said Santa Fe province in Argentina’s northeast remained the hardest-hit area, with about 30 000 of the evacuees in and around the provincial capital of Santa Fe and the cities of Rosario and Canada de Gomez. Among newly reported victims Saturday, coast guard officials said a woman’s body was recovered from the rain-swollen Parana River near Rosario, a city of 1 million people 280 kilometres northwest of the capital.That brought to three the number dead after a house tumbled into the river Friday, sweeping the woman and two men to their deaths.The bodies of the two men were recovered Friday by coast guard boats in the swollen river.”It’s so unusual, I’ve never seen so much rain,” said Eduardo Wagner, a civil defence official in Santa Fe as five days of rain lashed the region.Thousands began evacuating recently from their homes in the provincial capital of Santa Fe, 390 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires.They carried laundry baskets with only a few possessions and struggled through waist-deep waters.Some tried to load refrigerators and TV sets on trucks.Nampa-APAmong newly reported victims Saturday, coast guard officials said a woman’s body was recovered from the rain-swollen Parana River near Rosario, a city of 1 million people 280 kilometres northwest of the capital.That brought to three the number dead after a house tumbled into the river Friday, sweeping the woman and two men to their deaths.The bodies of the two men were recovered Friday by coast guard boats in the swollen river.”It’s so unusual, I’ve never seen so much rain,” said Eduardo Wagner, a civil defence official in Santa Fe as five days of rain lashed the region.Thousands began evacuating recently from their homes in the provincial capital of Santa Fe, 390 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires.They carried laundry baskets with only a few possessions and struggled through waist-deep waters.Some tried to load refrigerators and TV sets on trucks.Nampa-AP