LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) – Heavy rainfall in Bolivia over Saturday night caused the Pasajahuira river to overflow, flooding the neighborhood of Bajo Llojeta on the outskirts of La Paz and leaving many people trapped in their homes awaiting rescue teams.
“There was screaming and terrible desperation,” Bajo Llojeta’s municipal president, Julieta Clavijo, told Reuters.
“A 4-year-old girl is missing and her parents are desperate. People had to leave their houses through the roofs because there was no other way to get out because the mud was already too deep,” Clavijo said.
Civil defense vice minister Juan Carlos Calvimontes confirmed that rescue teams were searching for a young girl.
At least 26 people have been injured and more than 40 houses damaged by the flood, according to local authorities. Some 300 military personnel were deployed to help evacuate residents and clean up the area.
President Luis Arce also visited the community and vowed to carry out “all the work necessary” the restore the area and open an investigation into the causes of the disaster.
“It cannot remain like this,” he said.
“My house is flooded and the mud keeps rising,” said local resident Andrea Quispe. “We need more help, more equipment, this help is not enough. We still have time to save my house but no one is helping me.”
Heavy rainfall aggravated by late-season tropical storms has also ravaged Central America, cutting off entire communities in Honduras and destroying swathes of Costa Rica’s coffee crop.
(Reporting by Sergio Limachi and Santiago Limachi; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Leslie Adler)
