Thousands of people have been evacuated in Argentina over the past few days due to major flooding. With the rainfall expected to continue, Argentina's government has declared a state of emergency.
On Thursday, between 7,000 to 10,000 people were evacuated from the central province of Entre Rios, along the Uruguay River. By today, the number has reached 20,000, and includes four other coastal provinces: Santa Fe, Corrientes, Chaco, and Formosa, according to Prensa Latina. Water levels could reach up to 16 meters in some areas, warns Latin One.
"There's never been flooding like this," said Concordia Mayor Enrique Cresto on Thursday, according to the BBC. "Today the river is going to rise another 40cm [16in]. We are going to... keep evacuating more families all day."
Caused by heavy rains, evacuations have also affected thousands of people in neighboring Paraguay and Uruguay. In total, almost 150,000 people have been driven from their homes through the region, with 5 reported dead, according to Yahoo News.
Some experts have linked the floods and other erratic weather patterns in the region to the naturally occurring El Niño phenomenon in which warm Pacific waters spread eastward toward North and South America, reports TeleSUR. Climate scientists have predicted that El Niño's impact through 2015-16 might be among the strongest on historical record.
