MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Eight die, 40,000 suffer damages in Patagonia storm

Eight people died and some 40.000 people suffered damages from storms pounding southern Argentina and Chile with torrential rains and heavy snow.

The violent storm which has battered Patagonia since Tuesday caused rivers to overflow and landslides that smashed homes and uprooted trees. Five people in Argentina and three others in Chile were left dead in its path and several fishing boats were sunk.

Argentina's Civil Defense Direction told that current weather conditions are "good," and in the Argentine provinces of Neuquen, Rio Negro and Chubut "the sun came out and the situation is improving."

But the director of the region's Emergency Operations Center, Martin Gomez Lisarrague, told that "the situation could become more complicated today Sunday since rain and snow are in the forecast."

A planeload of mattresses, clothes and food, plus two trucks with zinc roofs and other rescue items arrived Saturday in Argentine Patagonia as part of a government relief effort.

In Chile, losses have exceeded $4 million in road damages alone, for which the Chilean government has pledged $5 million in financial aid for relief and reconstruction efforts.

The number of Chileans affected by the storm has already reached 38,000, while more than 2,000 Argentines have felt the wrath of this catastrofe.

One of the cities hit hardest was Valdivia, 840 kilometers (522 miles) south of Santiago, where the river inundating the city rose more than two meters (6.5 feet), according to reports Saturday from the Chilean National Emergency office.

In Argentina, the storm caused the most damage in a Neuquen province near the Andes, and in the southwestern cities of Rio Negro and Chubut.