Nicolás Maduro decrees a “tragedy zone” in the town of Tejerías, in addition to three days of mourning.
At least 22 people have died and 52 more are missing due to heavy rains that have caused a landslide in Las Tejerías, in the Venezuelan state of Aragua.
The Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, has visited the place and has reported that it has been declared a tragedy zone and three days of mourning have been decreed for these deaths. The incident occurred in the El Béisbol sector, where five streams overflowed. The floods have dragged houses, street furniture and flooded the streets of the town, destroying everything that the water found in its path.
“We have also lost children, which is very unfortunate,” Rodríguez pointed out, according to the Venezuelan portal Últimas Noticias. Now the work is concentrated on the search for the disappeared, as she has explained.
“We are activated on different work fronts. A search front where all our security agencies, our Bolivarian National Armed Forces are activated in the search in the rivers”, Rodríguez affirmed.
“There are people who are still walled up (…). We are trying to rescue them alive and we extend our condolences to the families who have lost a loved one. We are providing them with support”, she has indicated.
The vice president of Venezuela also indicated that there are merchants who lost their premises, affected crops, for which she informed that the public bank will provide support to these citizens.
Likewise, she pointed out that the water service is interrupted because the force of the water from the creek dragged the submersible pumps. The electricity supply is also completely down, and no sector of the town and surroundings has electricity.
More than 1,000 people from the National Risk Management System have traveled to the site, including firefighters from different regions of the country, Civil Protection and the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.
The system has also been activated to care for people who have lost their homes. “Here we are enabling important shelters in the state of Aragua where these people will be located today,” she explained.
“Faced with the difficult and painful situation caused by the heavy rains in Las Tejerías, I ordered Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, the Social Cabinet and all security agencies, the maximum deployment for the comprehensive care of the town. They are not alone!” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro highlighted on Twitter.
Delcy Rodríguez has referred to the climate crisis as responsible for what happened. “This large landslide had never been seen in this area. More than five streams overflowed”, she has pointed out.
The intense rain began on Saturday afternoon and lasted until late at night, causing landslides, rocks and trees that devastated 21 sectors of this town, one of the poorest in the state of Aragua.