People walk on the street covered in mud following flash flooding in Tovar, Merida State, Venezuela, August 25, 2021. Photo:Reuters
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | AUGUST 26th 2021
Following hard rainfall and flooding in the Western Venezuelan state of Merida, the damages have been assessed and the death toll has risen to 20, though it may rise again before long as the hunt for missing persons is still going.
A ruling Socialist Party official in Merida had stated on Wednesday through TV broadcast that authorities were in the middle of trying to re-establish telephone services in certain disaster-hit areas. He had also announced the higher death toll numbers as the search continues, with at least 17 people still unaccounted for.
“Let's try not to make this political or ideological,” said state governor Ramon Guevara, who is a member of the Democratic Action opposition party, having added that at least 1,200 houses were destroyed in the crisis. “Let’s all look for solutions to the problem.”
Hundreds of families were affected by the disaster according to the initial assessments. Many of the displaced are being temporarily housed in evacuation centres, which had been established following the crisis.
The municipality of Rivas Dávila also affected among the affected areas, alongside Tovar, Antonio Pinto and Sucre. For some, the deluge has brought back memories of the 2005 floods, in which at least 500 people died in many of the same areas Mocotíes Valley in an incident that is now often called back on as the Mocotíes tragedy by many.
“The situation that we're living through is very unfortunate,” said Guevara, in statements made to the local media which were filmed and later posted on Twitter. “Power is cut off because the waters reached the transformers, which caused them to halt.”
He added that due to these damages to transformers, several towns were now totally without power, such as Tovar, Bailadores, Zea and Santa Cruz de Mora. While efforts are under way to restore some semblance of communication, it’s a difficult process. Particularly due to the country’s lack of resources.
According to Guevara, there’s a severe lack of the appropriate resources amidst the state, and the municipal governments for this kind of crisis. Infrastructure specialists had, however, been contracted to help with some of the repairs to damaged structures.
