Venezuelans Forced to Sleep on Streets After Flooding Ravages Towns

Venezuelans in the city of Maracay must sleep on the street, with socialist officials failing to provide shelter after devastating flooding led to hundreds of people losing their homes last week, NTN24 reported Monday.

Distressing photos from the city show people sleeping on mattresses in the middle of the road, the majority of which are engulfed in fifth and dirty water, reportedly waiting for assistance from local officials. The flooding took place after heavy rain caused the Rio Limón to overflow and ravage parts of the city.

“[September 13th] residents of El Limón, Maracay, Aragua state, are forced to sleep on the street after losing their homes due to the rising river,” the Venezuela Observatory of Social Conflict noted on Twitter. “The State is responsible for guaranteeing all the rights of the affected persons. We demand a response from the authorities.”

Footage of the flooding last week showed enormous quantities of water aggressively flowing through the streets after the city’s drainage system failed to mitigate the impact.

Video of the flooding shows possessions, waste, cars, and people washed away by the water, while others held on to gates to prevent themselves from being carried away by the flood. The flooding resulted in entire highways disappearing under rapids, cutting off communities from emergency services.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, at least 40 people were killed and over 3,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the flooding. An estimated 18,000 people are estimated to have been affected by the events.

Similar footage from Cabimas, Zulia state, surfacing this month showed the streets flooded with crude oil amid heavy rain, with reports indicating that crude oil was pumping through the city’s water pipes. The spillage contradicted statements recently made by local mayor Pedro Duarte, an ally of Nicolás Maduro’s socialist regime, who insisted that all oil pipes had been repaired.

Unlike in Maracay, it took just three hours of heavy rain to leave streets, shops, homes, cars, and hospitals underwater amid the collapse of the sewage system. While some reports indicated that pipes somehow ended up spilling oil into the streets, other pipes apparently burst, sending their contents to the surface.

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