Rains leave two people drowned, raise river levels and flood homes

The persistent rains of the last days left houses flooded, two extraordinary drowned and grown people in the main basins of the department.

On Wednesday night, the body of an approximately 70-year-old person was recovered in the Piraí River, near the Limoncito community, in the municipality of El Torno.

This Thursday morning, a team of rescuers found the lifeless body of a man near the Piraí River. It is presumed that the victim fell into the Isuto channel and was swept away by the current.

The Secretary of Citizen Security of the Interior, Paola Weber, assured that the 70-year-old person lost his life when he was dragged by the water current.

In the same way, they assisted a group of people who were trapped in the area of ​​km 12, on the old road to Cochabamba.

The head of the Basin Unit, Fernando Casanovas, recalled that alerts are issued about river flooding, but he regretted that there are people who ignore these warnings.

He reported that extraordinary floods were recorded in the different tributaries. In the upper Piraí basin there were large floods due to the rainfall of 48 hours ago, piling up to 100 millimeterswhich caused sudden floods.

“The rains are general, but mainly the problems are occurring in the Piraí basin and the Grande River. In the latter, up to 9 meters were reached in the upper basin, ”he remarked.

In the city, the situation was repeated like all the times that This type of rainfall occurs with flooded streets and a shortage of urban transport units. Schoolchildren were also affected in the events scheduled for the Day of the Sea.

Several vehicles were stuck in the middle of the water, because many avenues became rivers. Some drainage channels overflowed due to the intense flow, as happened in Beni avenue and in the seventh ring.

in the neighborhoods, the water entered some houses, which forced the families to request the help of the emergency brigades.

The director of Municipal Risk and Emergency, Roxney Borda, pointed out that teams were mobilized to the Plan Tres Mil area and the third ring road of the La Guardia double track, among other areas.

“The brigades They performed drainage and relief tasks for falling trees. youA team was also sent to Municipal District 10, an area of ​​the Santa Ana neighborhood, where those affected by the water accumulated in eight homes were helped,” said the official.

Borda recommended that the population not leave their motorized vehicles under the trees, because they can give way due to the humidity of the terrain.

For its part, the Urban Fire and Rescue Unit (UUBR) also attended emergencies due to rain. According to the report, the fall of a tree in the southern part of the city and other incidents in the Pirai river were attended.

Regarding the situation of the drainage channels, Jorge Siles, head of the Department of Inspection of Drainage Works of the commune, indicated that a call was answered in the Beni extension and sixth ring, where the weeds affected the drainage.

Also drains were cleaned in at least seven points in the city center.

He asked the population to contact the free line 800-12 5700 for any emergency.

The National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (Senamhi) issued an orange alert until Sunday due to sudden and progressive rises in level with possible overflows in the Mamoré, Beni, Madre de Dios, Tahuamanu and Abuná river basins, affecting Beni, Pando, La Paz and Cochabamba. In addition, in Santa Cruz there was a warning of flooding in the Ichilo, Choro Negro, Palcha, Yapacaní, Surutú, Piraí and Rio Grande rivers.

issued the red alert warning of floods in the department of Beni (Isiboro river basin) and Cochabamba (Upper Isiboro river basin).

“The rains are happening in an unusual way at the end of the period because they were delayed, since they generally begin at the beginning of November, but due to the prolonged drought they began in the second half of December. I think they will last until much of April,” explained Luis Alberto Alpire, an expert in agrometeorology.

Regarding the rainfall this Thursday, he said that it rained a lot, that is, 60 liters per square meter, but over a prolonged period, for approximately six hours, unlike the previous rain, when the city collapsed. “If we compare, the previous rain was two hours, and the precipitation was 94 liters per square meter,” he added.

Regarding the forecast, he said that the rainfall will return at dawn on Friday the 24th. “There will be less intense, weak to moderate rains,” he said.

He reported that in the Santa Cruz Valleys it has rained more than in other parts of the department, with three days of rainfall in the Vallegrande and Florida provinces, which is also unusual, “but it is due to the delay in the rainy season,” he insisted. These rainfalls in the Valleys have caused major landslides, which have left several roads impassable.