Neuquén Governor Rolando Figueroa announced that the Patagonian province will declare a six-month weather emergency after El Niño storms cut roads, isolated rural communities and forced evacuations.
The declaration will be formalized by decree and will pay for drainage and flood-control works, aid to exposed communities and prevention. Figueroa said gullies are filling up that “have not received this much water in 70 years” and that the province’s infrastructure cannot absorb such rain. He also said the province should study a large dam on the Neuquén River, which he acknowledged would be costly and take years.
The storms washed out rural roads, and the province flew food, medicine and hospital supplies by helicopter and plane to isolated settlements, including Rincón de los Sauces. Evacuations were reported in Añelo, the hub of Vaca Muerta, the shale formation that drives Argentina’s energy growth. Traffic was interrupted on stretches of road including National Route 40 between Chos Malal and Las Lajas, and fuel tankers were stranded in mud.
The province’s main rivers are under control, according to Horacio Collado, technical secretary of the authority that manages the region’s river basins. He said the Neuquén River was running at about 500 cubic meters per second, against a usual 300 to 330, and that its reservoirs can regulate more water.
Neuquén is a second front in the El Niño emergency after floods that forced thousands from their homes in the northeast. Chaco’s provincial emergency committee counted about 1,790 people out of their homes on Sunday, including about 500 who left on their own.
At Iguazú Falls, on the border with Brazil, the national park closed the upper walkways, the jungle train and the Macuco trail on Monday as the river rose again. The lower circuit stays open, and the walkway to the Devil’s Throat, the falls’ best-known section, has been closed since early August. Park officials expect to reopen the other sections on Tuesday if the river keeps falling.