Storm with hurricane-force winds leaves deaths and destruction in Argentina and Uruguay

A severe storm with rains and winds of more than 150 km/hour left at least 14 dead, destroyed, semi-paralyzed several cities in the center of Argentina and left two dead in the west of Uruguay this weekend, official sources reported.

Argentine President Javier Milei traveled on Sunday to Bahía Blanca, a port city 800 km southwest of Buenos Aires where 13 people – including a child – died when the roof of a club collapsed during the storm on Saturday.

Another 14 people were seriously injured, according to the municipality. The victims were surprised by the storm when a skate competition was taking place in the traditional Bahiense del Norte club, the same one where the former world basketball star Manuel Ginobili was trained.

“Let people not circulate, we are still in a state of emergency,” The mayor of Bahia Blanca told residents on Sunday, which was left without power and suffered widespread damage due to winds that according to authorities “They exceeded 150 km/hour.”

Milei arrived in the Atlantic city on Sunday afternoon with three ministers, including Security and Defense, and met with local authorities to coordinate aid.

In Moreno, 40 km from Buenos Aires, a woman died after being hit by the branch of an old tree, police sources said.

The hurricane winds were generated by “a large mass of previously warm and humid air that was activated by the passage of a cold front,” but without specific relation to the current El Niño phenomenon, meteorologist Leo DeBenedictis explained to AFP.

Deaths in Uruguay

In Uruguay, at least two people died early Sunday morning in the department of Colonia (southwest), affected by falling trees and blowing off roofs, due to winds of more than 167 km/hour, reported the Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology ( Inumet).

An eight-year-old boy died in a campsite in the Santa Regina resort, on the Río de la Plata, and a 20-year-old young man lost his life while riding a motorcycle on a route near the town of Rosario, according to official information.

Firefighters reported more than 150 emergencies attended to in Montevideo and the rest of the country, with trees and columns falling on properties and vehicles, and damage to homes and the sanitation network, according to local media.

The Inumet warned on Sunday of strong storms and intense rains in the southwestern region of the country.

The Argentine National Meteorological Service (SMN) instead deactivated the “orange” alert in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Córdoba and Santa Fe (center-east), although it predicted the advance of the storms towards the north of the country.

Destroys in Buenos Aires

The city of Buenos Aires suffered winds of almost 100 km/h, heavy rains and electricity outages early on Sunday, reported Mayor Jorge Macri.

The capital woke up with 360 fallen trees that destroyed vehicles, cut cables, collapsed public lighting columns and canopies, and interrupted traffic on streets and avenues.

In the Palermo neighborhood, at least six people suffered minor injuries in the early morning during the Bresh musical party, at the GEBA club, where the main stage collapsed, reported the public emergency service SAME.

Another 14 people were treated by doctors after tents were blown up at an event at the Palermo Racecourse, SAME detailed.

“I have never seen anything like this: this is a cemetery of fallen trees and destroyed cars”Sergio Zárate, a 37-year-old neighbor, told AFP.

The emblematic mobile metal sculpture “Floralis Generica”, in Palermo, it lost one of its giant petals.

More than a hundred flights were canceled at the local Jorge Newbery airport (Aeroparque), the concessionaire Aeropuertos 2000 reported. A plane was dragged several meters by the wind, as were rolling stairs, videos showed on social networks.

The northern, western and southern suburbs of the capital were also hit by accumulated rains of 40 mm in a few hours, a third of the historical average for December, the SMN reported.