The city of Bahía Blanca is living one of the worst catastrophes in its history after the devastating flood that hit the region on Friday, March 7. With a balance of at least 16 dead, 94 missing and thousands of evacuees, the emergency has evidenced structural failures and the need for a coordinated response between nation, province and municipality.
While Javier Milei’s government tries to articulate economic and logistics aid, the Axel Kicillof administration leads reconstruction tasks with own resources and possible international support. After the visit of President Javier Milei to the disaster area, the Government said it will send 200 billion, although from the city they ask for double. Until time only 10 billion were sent.
Impact
The heavy rains that fell last week over Bahía Blanca exceeded 400 millimeters in a few hours, an unprecedented amount that Ríos overflowed and collapsed the city’s drainage infrastructure. The streets of the city center became channels of a meter and a half depth, whole neighborhoods were flooded, hundreds of families lost everything and the access roads became impassable.
While it is said that the number of missing amounts to 94 people, it is estimated that it could even be three times higher, among which are the Pilar and Delfina Hecker sisters, one and five years respectively. Meanwhile, rescue bodies work counterreloj to find survivors between debris and areas that are still flooded.
“It is the third devastating phenomenon suffered by Bahía Blanca in less than two years and certainly obeys the climate change that Javier Milei says not to exist,” the former national deputy for the UCR, Juan Pablo Baylac, who lives in small payment less than 17 kilometers from the center of Bahía Blanca tells news.
Although with much less intensity, the rain last week knocked down the trees near his house, he left him without light and without communication. Even in a state of shock, he reflects: “In my 75 years I never saw something like that. There are still many missing people and does not appear. There are many flooded places and there is already talk of starting to vaccinate tetanus, hantavirus and other infections that arise from catastrophes of this magnitude. If the recovery after Katrina to Florida took him five years, I imagine that here will be the same or double. ”
Policies
From the National Government, Javier Milei’s initial response was criticized for his delay and the lack of an immediate emergency plan. In recent days, the libertarian administration announced the possibility of redirecting international funds for the reconstruction of key infrastructure. For his part, Governor Axel Kicillof toured the most affected areas and assured that the province will allocate own resources for reconstruction works.
“We cannot expect, people need solutions now,” he said at a press conference, underlining the importance of rehabilitating schools, hospitals and communication roads urgently. It is estimated that only the reconstruction of the Penna hospital will cost 22 billion and for the city to be standing again, about 400 billion pesos are needed. Here will begin an unprecedented dispute between the different government jurisdictions. In turn, the mayor Federico Subielles also played a key role in the coordination of the emergency operation, enabling evacuation centers and managing donations for the victims.
Ignacio Cangelosi, 40, professor of gymnastics, lives a few blocks from the center of Bahía Blanca. The previous day he had heard the weather alert with suspension of classes and therefore stayed at home, on the first floor of the building that lives. “Almost all the old buildings of Bay, which are the majority, have the electrical connections and the tanks of the water tanks in the subsoil, so most still still without light, without water and even without gas. Today I would tell you that all Bahía Blanca buildings continue to draw water from the subsoils, ”he says with the anguish that transmits his voice.
His crude story continues: “From my window I saw that a boy wanted to rescue his car and the water took him with car and everything. I don’t know if it’s alive because I didn’t recognize him as a neighbor. Half a block from my house there is a geriatric where they evacuated 15 grandparents, 13 survived, two died drowned. They put them on the top floor of a parking lot until they were rescued with the mechanical shovel of a crane. ”
History
The creation of the Maldonado Canal was held in the mid -1950s after the flood of the Napostá stream in 1944. Since then all the residents of Bahía Blanca wondered what would happen the day that the overflow channel, something that seemed unlikely because its flow was lower than a thread of water. However, the little maintenance made that in all these years, the surroundings are filled with garbage and yuyos.
Cangelosi says: “I find it hard to believe the figures of affected people who are handled from the media. We all know people who died or still missing and continue talking about 16 dead and 94 disappeared. Nor do I understand how there are businesses that take advantage and charge candle packages to 10 thousand pesos. The luminaire of the street does not work, Bahía Blanca is a land of anyone. ”
By rn
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