12 die, thousands evacuated in Argentina flooding

Buenos Aires flooding from heavy rains has left 12 people dead in Argentina, officials said on Saturday.

Swollen rivers in the past weeks have also forced the evacuation of thousands of people. The civil defence agency of the northern province of Cordoba said that 10 victims have been found there, the most recent of them a farm worker who was caught in a swollen creek in El Fortin, some 430 miles north of the Argentine capital.

A total of 1,434 people have been evacuated in Cordoba, where it rained as much in the past few weeks as all of last year. Those evacuees include all 1,000 people in the town of Idiazabal, which is completely flooded. Improved weather is expected in the coming days, according to the provincial civil defence.

The state news agency Telam also reported that two victims died in the province of Santiago del Estero, some 700 miles north of Buenos Aires. About 3,000 people have so far been evacuated in that province.