Tales of survival emerge as Venezuela landslide toll hits 34

Rescue employees utilizing drones and skilled canine looked for survivors on Monday following an enormous landslide in central Venezuela, because the dying toll rose to 34 and residents described harrowing tales of escape from the water and dust.

Jose Medina recalled how the water streaming into his house within the city of Las Tejerías on Saturday evening had reached waist degree. He and his household had been trapped, he realised.

So the 63-year-old turned his fridge sideways, opened its door and used it as a ship for his granddaughter. Meanwhile he held on to the fridge together with his spouse, and pinned it to a desk in order that the robust currents of water wouldn’t push them downstream.

Medina described their survival as a “miracle”.

“I’m happy that we’re alive but I’m also sad,” mentioned the retired development employee who misplaced his house and all of his belongings.

His plight started when torrential rains attributable to Hurricane Julia unleashed mudslides and floods that destroyed a number of mountainside neighbourhoods in Las Tejerias.

On Monday, Venezuelan officers mentioned a minimum of 34 individuals died within the flooding and 60 are lacking following the worst pure catastrophe to hit the cash-strapped South American nation in recent times.

In Las Tejerias, a metropolis of fifty,000 individuals positioned alongside Venezuela’s major industrial hall, crews had been utilizing heavy equipment to clear particles from neighbourhoods whose streets had been nonetheless blocked with mud.

Meanwhile rescue employees used drones and canine to seek out individuals buried underneath the particles.

“We are still hoping to find people that can be saved,” mentioned Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as she toured one of many neighbourhoods affected by the mudslides.

For those that survived, the nation’s dire financial state of affairs will make restoration tougher.

Medina mentioned his pension – which is pegged to Venezuela’s month-to-month minimal wage – is value simply USD 17 a month.

Now he’ll depend upon authorities help to outlive, however added that he considers himself fortunate that he didn’t lose kin within the mudslide.

Venezuelan authorities mentioned 317 properties in Las Tejerias had been worn out by the mudslide and one other 750 properties sustained injury.

Residents mentioned they solely had minutes to depart their properties late Saturday, because the avalanche of mud, rocks and tree logs swept over a number of hillside neighbourhoods within the metropolis.

Some individuals had been praying at an evangelical church when the mudslide occurred, whereas others had been at a youngsters’s social gathering residents mentioned. Several youngsters are among the many lacking.

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on Sunday declared three days of mourning for the victims and despatched rescue employees to Las Tejerias, which lies alongside a freeway that connects Caracas to the economic metropolis of Valencia.

Maduro mentioned that 11 states within the nation sustained injury from floods over the weekend.