Kindgo
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2987335.stm
The authorities in Santa Fe, northern Argentina, have evacuated at least 45,000 people amid the most severe flooding in the province's history.
Two people are known to have died, with a 44-year-old man in the neighbouring province of Entre Rios drowning as he tried to reach dry land on a boat.
President Eduardo Duhalde, who described the floods as a "national catastrophe", has called a cabinet meeting and dispatched two ministers to the scene.
Local civil defence officials said in some areas the rivers had risen by as much as 50 centimetres (20 inches) in 12 hours.
Reporting the extent of the evacuation in Santa Fe, provincial governor Carlos Reutemann said two people had died and one was missing in the worst floods since Santa Fe City was founded in 1573.
The BBC's Peter Greste reports that nobody, not even the weather forecasters, had predicted the floods which occurred after heavy storms on Monday.
So dramatic has been the flooding in the low-lying region, that Santa Fe City, 390 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Buenos Aires, is effectively now an island, our correspondent says.
In Entre Rios Province, at least 1,500 people have been evacuated.
'Ignored'
Local health officials say the floods have also caused a dramatic increase in hepatitis and gastro-intestinal illnesses.
Evacuees worried about the prospect of looting set up pickets to control access to their neighbourhoods and have complained about the lack of political attention paid to their plight.
One embittered man told local television that there were plenty of politicians passing through during the campaign in the lead-up to Sunday's election, but now that the poll was over, nobody cared about them any longer.
However, Social Development Minister Nelida Doga and Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia have been sent to the region.
President Duhalde has vowed that "not a single province will be left by the government to its own devices".
Santa Fe City, built on the Salado River, has a population of about 400,000.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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