(Reuters) – Flash floods killed at least 46 people and forced about 1,500 residents to evacuate the Argentine city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province, government officials said on Wednesday.
Some people drowned after being trapped in their cars or while walking along city streets when the water rose suddenly on Tuesday night, while others were electrocuted, provincial governor Daniel Scioli told reporters.
“Families and small children spent the night on their roofs, getting wet. People in wheelchairs were up to their waists in water all night. It was a disaster,” Bruno Zorzit, a resident of La Plata, told Reuters Television.
Local media said between 300 and 400 millimeters (12 to 16 inches) of rain fell in just two hours, flooding low-lying neighborhoods in La Plata and surrounding areas.
President Cristina Fernandez, who grew up near La Plata, visited the flood zone and promised to send more police to calm people’s fears that evacuated homes could be looted.
(Reporting by Juan Bustamante; Additional reporting by Alejandro Lifschitz in Buenos Aires; Writing by Hilary Burke)