The persistent rains in Bolivia caused the overflow of a lagoon in the Tarija region in the south of the country that affected at least three communities with the sliding of houses and 20 people are missing .
The president of Bolivia , Luis Arce, lamented this Monday on his Twitter account “the loss of human lives due to the overflow of the Itayuru creek” in Tarija. “We sent a Super Puma helicopter with food and search teams from the FFAA (Armed Forces). We are evacuating wounded and affected families,” Arce wrote.
The Vice Ministry of Civil Defense reported that in the last few hours there has been intense rain in the O’Connor province, in the municipality of Entre Ríos, about 100 kilometers from the city of Tarija, which caused an overflow of a lagoon that has affected at least three Guarani communities, according to a bulletin from that portfolio. This situation caused that some 20 people are missing and it is known that “officially” the body of one deceased was found and “unofficially” they found a second , according to the bulletin of the Vice Ministry of Civil Defense.
That is why the Vice Minister of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, planned to fly over the place to bring food and rescue equipment for the affected families, as well as mobilize teams to search for the missing persons. However, it was not possible to complete the entire overflight route due to bad weather conditions and also because a 69-year-old person was rescued who was “injured and polycontused by the mud fall,” reported Cavimontes. The overflight is scheduled to take place on Tuesday to continue the search for the 20 missing persons, as well as to deliver humanitarian aid, this day it was possible to deliver 1.5 tons of humanitarian aid to the community of Ñaurenda.
The rains caused rivers to overflow, walls to fall, damaged crops, and landslides with buildings. In the last report of this month, some 190 municipalities and more than 52,000 families affected by the persistent rains were counted.