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Maracay (Venezuela) (AFP) – A new flood left three dead in Aragua, in the north of Venezuela, which increases the number of victims due to the rains in the country this year, confirmed President Nicolás Maduro.
“They inform me that there are three deaths in El Castaño, it was a mudslide that came from the mountain,” said the Venezuelan president about the natural disaster that occurred about 83 kilometers from Caracas.
The avalanche is added to the landslide of last October 8 in Las Tejerías, an industrial town of some 40,000 inhabitants that was devastated by a gigantic wave of mud, rocks and trees that fell from the mountains that border it, leaving dozens of dead and missing.
In the case of El Castaño, images broadcast on television captured out-of-control currents that dragged vehicles, trees and huge rocks.
An AFP team verified the situation caused by the overflow of the El Palmarito river after hours of intense rainfall towards the upper part of the mountain.
At night, layers of mud and rocks that covered the roads were removed by soldiers and workers who worked with the help of the light of some vehicles, since the area was left without electricity after the avalanche.
José Dos Santos, 56, took refuge with his family in the highest part of his house.
“I saw for the mountain that the rain was heavy, we heard a roar and when I saw the water was getting through the windows and I grabbed my people and we got on,” he told AFP.
“That was horrible, I have lived here for 70 years and I had never seen this,” said Nélida Rodríguez.
“A Difficult Year”
Maduro was informed of what happened in El Castaño during a televised address from Las Tejerías, where a week ago a landslide killed 54 people, according to a new balance delivered this Monday by the president.
“So far, 54 deceased have been found, identified, delivered to their relatives, my condolences to all the relatives of Las Tejerías for this painful loss,” said Maduro.
The president had indicated last week that the number of victims could reach one hundred.
In Las Tejerías “we still have a number of disappeared, reported, they tell me that there are eight completely confirmed and we continue in the search,” Maduro said about the most devastating natural disaster in Venezuela in the last 20 years.
Before the landslide in Las Tejerías, the rains above historical levels had left 13 victims in other regions of Venezuela since last September 23.
“This is all climate change,” said Maduro, who traveled from Las Tejerías to El Castaño on Monday night.
Already in the place of the new avalanche, Maduro assured that there was an “unprecedented growth” of the channels that cross this population located at the foot of a mountainous area.
“This year the issue of rains has been very difficult for the entire country,” added Maduro, who says he has seen the worst natural disasters in 2022 in his nine and a half years in office.
