According to Federla Planning Minister Julio De Vido, in the San Antonio de Areco are between “20 and 30 manmade canals, not streams, flowing into the river.”
“I do not know if they are illegal, but at least are not declared. It results from an objective view of the reality after a tour we made with governor Daniel Scioli,” said the minister.
About 3,000 evacuated people and heavy damages are the effects of unprecedented floods in many regions in the northern part of Buenos Aires province.
Locals said that thousands of canals, illegally built by farmers to drain their lands, alter the course of the waters to rivers and to bordering lands, among them San Antonio de Areco, Salto, Arrecifes and Zarate.
Meanwhile, rain stopped yesterday in San Antonio de Areco, where 10 mm fell yesterday causing water not to drain as expected.
The evacuees, returned to their homes to salvage what little they had.
Meanwhile, soldiers, policemen and firemen patrolled the area at night to prevent looting as some cases had already been reported during the weekend in Salto and San Antonio de Areco.
This morning, at around 6.30 am, Army troops were preparing rations for the victims in three field kitchens, police patrolled the area, the police controlled traffic on the flooded roads and firefighters attended the people who decided to spend the night on the roof of their houses for fear of being robbed.
