The Litoral region of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

underwent heavy rainstorms in the early autumn season of 2007. Starting in late March and ending in mid-April, the rains caused several major rivers to rise and/or overflow their banks, partly or completely flooded many towns and large cities, ruined a significant part of the crops in a wide region, and severely damaged the physical infrastructure. At least 15 people were killed as a result of the flooding.http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/index.php?report=hazards&year=2007&month=mar

Affected area

The area hit by the main storm was the central and southern Argentine Litoral region, comprising the south-center of

Santa Fe Province The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 28th ...

(west of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

) and the south of

Entre Ríos Province Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east. Its capital is Paraná ( ...

(east of the Paraná River). The latter is part of the southern

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

(lit. "between rivers", thus called because it lies within the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of the Paraná and the

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

). Increased rainfall also hit locations in the northeast of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

, along the course of the Paraná, before it empties into the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

(beside which

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

is located). Associated storms hit the southeast of Córdoba Province, immediately west of Santa Fe. The largest metropolitan areas in the affected area were Santa Fe (pop. 460,000) and

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

(pop. 1.2 million). Tens of other cities and towns were also affected, including

Rafaela Rafaela () is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, about 96 km from the provincial capital. It is the head town of the Castellanos Department. It has a population of 99,150 per the . The city was established in 1881 by Guillermo ...

(pop. 84,000) in central Santa Fe and Gualeguay (pop. 39,000) in southern Entre Ríos. The southern Argentine littoral is the heart of the

Humid Pampa The Humid Pampas ( es, Pampa Húmeda) is an extensive ecoregion of flat, fertile grassland of loessic origin in Argentina. It has a precipitation average of 900 mm per year, in contrast with the Dry Pampas to the west, which average less tha ...

and the most productive farming region in the country, producing a large portion of the

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

s and

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

commodities consumed or exported. Only in Santa Fe Province, the storms ruined 30,000 km² of crops and rendered important regions of

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

land unusable.

Watercourses

The main river in the affected area is the

, which is the second longest in South America after the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. It forms the natural limit between the provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Ríos, and empties into the

. The Paraná–Plata system thus passes by Argentina's most densely populated area. Other affected watercourses were: * In Santa Fe, the right-hand-side (western) tributaries of the Paraná: near Santa Fe City, the Salado River; farther south, the

Carcarañá River The Carcarañá River (Spanish, Arroyo Saladillo or Río Saladillo) is a river in Argentina. It begins at the confluence of the Río Tercero and the Saladillo River (the lower course of the Río Cuarto) in the south-east of the province of Córd ...

; and in

, the

Ludueña Stream The Ludueña Stream (in Spanish, Arroyo Ludueña) is a small river (about long including its tributaries) in the , which starts near the city of Rosario and flows through it, mostly east-southwards, ending in the Paraná River in the neighbourho ...

and the

Saladillo Stream The Saladillo Stream (Spanish, Arroyo Saladillo or Río Saladillo) is a small tributary of the Paraná River, that discharges into it between the cities of Rosario and Villa Gobernador Gálvez, in the . It serves as the political border betwee ...

. * In Entre Ríos: the

Gualeguay River The Gualeguay River (Spanish Río Gualeguay) is one of the major rivers of the Mesopotamic province of Entre Ríos, Argentina. Its source is in the north of the province, in the region between the cities of Federación and San José de Felician ...

, which divides the province in two.

Development

On 26 March 2007 a rainstorm started in the area around

. With few interruptions, the rain continued for about a week. Rosario is traversed by the

in the north; its southern border is partly defined by the

. The Ludueña has historically been prone to overflowing, which has prompted the construction of works (canals and piping) to contain and derive its waters. Soon after the beginning of the rain, the Ibarlucea Canal (which empties into the main course of the Ludueña, overflowed and flooded several neighbourhoods in the northwest of Rosario. At the peak of the crisis, on 31 March, about 4,000 people were evacuated in several emergency centers throughout the city. As the strong rain started to subside in Rosario, the storms were moving north towards the area of Santa Fe, the provincial capital. Santa Fe is built on low-lying terrain at the junction of the Salado and Paraná rivers, and is still recovering from a flood caused by the Salado in 2003. This time, however, both rivers were rising. At some point, the physical barriers that had been set in place against the rise of the Paraná River prevented the natural drainage of the flood waters brought by the Salado. The existing pumps were not enough, and there was a delay bringing extra ones. As the neighbouring areas were flooded and the incoming roads submerged or damaged, Santa Fe became practically isolated with the exception of the

Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel Hernandarias may refer to: * Hernando Arias de Saavedra, the first South American governor born in the Americas * Hernandarias District Hernandarias is a district and city of the Alto Paraná Department, Paraguay. It was named after Hernando A ...

. About 20,000 people were displaced or evacuated. The provincial government decreed a state of hydrical emergency on 29 March. Evacuees were sent to military and private facilities (such as sports clubs and schools), where they were given food and shelter, and the risk population (mainly children) was vaccinated. After the end of the emergency, as the first estimates of the damages were released, the provincial government set aside funds (620 million

Argentine peso The peso (established as the ''peso convertible'') is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 '' centavos''. Its ISO 4 ...

s, about 200 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

) to assist the affected towns and cities; of these, AR$30 million were assigned to each of Santa Fe City and Rosario.

References

{{reflist Climate of Argentina

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Floods A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...