MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rains in Caracas leave three dead and destroy tents housing earthquake survivors

The rainfall was caused by the passage of tropical wave number 37 over northern Venezuela, accompanied by lightning and wind gusts

At least three people died in Caracas as a result of torrential rains that fell between Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday, which also caused flooding, brought down trees, cut power supplies and destroyed camps sheltering families left homeless by the double earthquake of June 24.

The commander general of the Caracas Fire Department, Pablo Antonio Palacios Salazar, said two female minors were swept away by a current of water in the La Vega parish, in the southwest of the capital. By the time crews arrived, authorities were already securing both bodies. A 49-year-old woman also died in Libertador municipality. In Sucre municipality, at least thirty homes were flooded.

The rainfall was caused by the passage of tropical wave number 37 over northern Venezuela, accompanied by lightning and wind gusts, according to the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology. Roads were flooded in La Candelaria, San Bernardino, Petare, Antímano and Caricuao, as well as on the Pan-American highway, and the Guaire river rose to the point of sweeping vehicles away in outlying districts. Several states in the center and west of the country were also affected.

The episode hit hardest those who lost their homes in June's earthquake. Around 115 families from the Misión Vivienda OPP-10 housing complex, in the Santa Rosalía parish, saw the destruction of the tents they had been sleeping in since their building was declared uninhabitable. Another camp, on the Panteón boulevard, suffered similar damage. Firefighters and civil protection officials removed trunks and branches that had fallen on the tents.

Carlos Julio Rojas, a human rights defender and coordinator of the Frente Norte Caracas group, said those families had been “left to their fate” by the authorities and stated that, almost two months after the earthquake, restructuring work on the building has not begun. The mayor of Caracas, Carmen Meléndez, said civil protection and fire crews remain deployed in the affected communities. The mayor of Baruta, Darwin González, declared an alert in residential areas of his jurisdiction.

According to the latest official figures, released on August 10, the double earthquake left 6,301 dead and more than 16,000 injured. A total of 12,411 homes remain under habitability restrictions and 9,567 have been classified as high risk and are due for demolition. At least twelve buildings collapsed entirely in the capital.

Sunday passed without rain in Caracas, though authorities maintained their alert. Many of those affected by the earthquake have returned to damaged homes rather than remain in improvised shelters, while awaiting the housing solutions announced by the authorities.