Tuesday's storm that caused flooding in the province of Buenos Aires and one death in the city, in Argentina, was also felt strongly in Uruguay, which continues this Wednesday under orange and yellow alerts from the Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology (Inumet).
The storm surprised President Luis Lacalle Pou outside his house, who was flying back to Montevideo from an event, in a fearsome trip that he recorded in a video shared on his social networks.
“Returning from Soriano and Flores. “Nice night to fly!” wrote the president on Instagram along with impressive images of the moment. “Thanks to the pilots of the FAU (Uruguayan Air Force) we flew and landed without problems,” he added.
The president had first gone to the department of Flores, where he participated in an inauguration of lights, a charging point and works on a route. Then he went to Soriano to be at the Expo Activa.
In his speech during the agricultural exhibition, the president urged the candidates for the October presidential elections to “end” the division of the country between the countryside and the city. “Uruguay is one and we all somehow live off the countryside,” he stated.
Squall in Florida
A “squall” – a strong wind that occasionally accompanies storms – affected the department of Florida, north of Montevideo, on Tuesday night, with wind gusts that reached 113 kilometers per hour. During the rest of the morning the storm continued with heavy rain and hail. Roofs were blown up, including that of the municipal swimming pool and the laboratory of the departmental Hospital, which closed its doors while repairs progress.
Stunning damage, scratches, torrential rains. This is how Florida looked after the storm. Video via martin_dirkoma_ pic.twitter.com/UgO13UURjY
— Meteorology Estación bcp (@Estacion_bcp) March 20, 2024
“It was a long night with intense wind, intense rain and hail that generated complications,” explained the mayor of Florida, Guillermo López, although he confirmed that there were no injuries.
“There were roofs blown off, more than 30 interventions in homes. More than 60 interventions due to fallen trees and more than 3,000 UTE services interrupted,” he added in dialogue with Arriba Gente (Channel 10).
Regarding evacuations, López said that there were already 70 people from August 25 who had traveled for the previous event, to which another 30 were added this morning.
Some of the damage occurred in areas where evacuees were returning to their homes, after the floods of recent days, according to the news portal of the local radio station Radio 33.
The Departmental Emergency Coordination Center (Cecoed) is in permanent session and carries out cleaning tasks together with firefighters and helps the affected people.
In the next few hours, a team from the Architecture Division of ASSE Central will evaluate the status of the Florida Hospital laboratory. For the moment it will remain closed and users will be notified to reschedule scheduled studies.
EL PAÍS (URUGUAY) / GDA
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