Torrential rains killed 13 in Andean region of Venezuela

At least 13 people have died in towns in Venezuela’s Andes, hard hit by the rains of the last few hours, the regional authority said on Tuesday.

“At that time we managed to talk about 11 people died as a result of this torrential downpour in the town of Tovar and two children died in the municipality of Pinto Salinas “, in the state of Mérida (west), said Governor Ramón Guevara in an official video.

Arquímedes Fajardo, Secretary General of the Government, indicated that they still do not know the number of missing in Tovar.

Rains for several hours fell on the Valle del Mocotíes, an agricultural region that has attracted a lot of tourism. Gigantic boulders have fallen from the mountains causing lane breaks and blockages.

Images disseminated on social networks show, for example, a strong current of water in a street of Tovar dragging vehicles. In others, cars appear to be buried or stuck between branches in the middle of a quagmire with rocks, debris and furniture.

“All the journey that must be experienced in the area of ​​the Mocotíes river which he overwhelmed his normal cause and entered the main streets of the city of Tovar “said Guevara, who clarified that the area has no electricity or telephone service and that access is blocked by the rains.

“We hope that during today (Tuesday) let’s start arriving with machines, we all have to help consolidate this situation ”, he pointed out.

One of the victims is the mother of a Catholic priest, who was traveling with his family when a swollen river trapped them in the mud, told the agency AFP Jesús Quintero, journalist based in Mérida.

“The situation is dramatic, sad, maddening. Losing everything is not easy, even worse losing family members. The tragedy of 2005 repeated itself, ”he commented.

Father Darwin Ramírez, from San Francisco de Tovar, “He managed to escape by going out through a window of his vehicle”, the Archdiocese of Mérida reported on Twitter.

In addition to Merida, the rains affected other regions of Venezuela, including the capital Caracas. The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (Inameh) issued a weather alert in which it forecasts the river flow growth in at least six states.

At the same time, the Kapé-Kapé civil association denounced 220 indigenous villages are affected by the Orinoco flood, which caused the largest floods since those which occurred in 1976 and 2018.

Among the states affected by heavy rains, three are on yellow alert: Apure, Amazonas and Falcón; while Bolívar, Guárico and Zulia are on red alert.

So far the government of Nicolás Maduro has not offered an official assessment of the damage generated across the country by the onslaught of rains.

(With information from AFP)

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