Argentina: Storm leaves at least 16 dead in the south of Buenos Aires province

A storm that struck the town of Bahia Blanca, located in the southern part of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has left at least 16 dead and more than 100 missing, according to local sources. 

According to Buenos Aires authorities, one of the deceased was a driver for a postal company who had tried to rescue two young sisters, Delfina and Pilar Hecker, aged one and five, respectively. The sisters are among those missing after a flood swept them and their mother away.

Argentine media reported that Javier Alonso, the Security Minister of Buenos Aires Province, stated that the mother and her daughters had boarded the postal company's vehicle, which was eventually swept away by the current. The vehicle then came to a stop, and as it began to fill with water, the worker climbed onto the roof with the older girl in his arms, while the mother did the same with the younger one. At that moment, she was separated from her daughters.

One of the most affected cities is Cerri, where the electricity supply has been cut off. A total of 1,450 people were either evacuated or had to leave their homes on their own. All of them are currently being sheltered in municipal facilities set up for those displaced by the storm.

Solidarity in the midst of the crisis

Amidst this emergency and the desperate calls for help, various Argentine charities and sports clubs are collecting donations, including water, mattresses, hygiene and cleaning products, medicines, non-perishable food, and more, to support the victims.

Clashes between President Milei and Governor Kicillof

Amid the crisis caused by the storm and despite the collaborative efforts of national and provincial authorities, tensions have risen between Argentine President Javier Milei of the La Libertad Avanza party and Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof of the opposition political force Unión por la Patria.

In a clear criticism to the President, Kicillof stated: "These are times in which there is a current of thought at international level that says that in order to do well you have to make an effort but as if you were in a jungle, the survival of the fittest. Everyone has to save himself. What happened in Bahía Blanca fills us with emotion because the State was there, all the ministries, all the mayors, the workers, many health workers. But also the people, the society, the province and the whole of Argentina."

"It is a huge, universal, massive refutation of the country they want to sell us. I believe that there is another country, our real country, which has to do with our culture, our history of generations helping other generations and that the most important value we have is that of solidarity and love, not hate, insult, every man for himself," added the governor.

Kicillof's statements come a week after President Milei called for his resignation and proposed that the federal government take control of Buenos Aires Province in response to a surge in insecurity and a series of robberies and murders, one of which tragically claimed the life of a seven-year-old girl.