Argentina floods displace thousands as rivers keep rising

Argentina floods have killed two farm workers and driven thousands of residents from their homes in the north-east of the country, as weeks of heavy rain push the Paraná, Uruguay and Iguazú rivers over their banks.

The men died near Bella Vista in Corrientes province while moving cattle away from flooded ground near the Paraná, according to local media reports carried by Reuters. Police and Argentine Naval Prefecture personnel searched for the men before recovering their bodies. The deaths show the danger swollen rivers pose in agricultural communities, where residents depend on boats, horses and low-lying crossings.

Reports published on October 23 and 24 put the number of people evacuated or forced from their homes in the thousands across Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones provinces, with authorities warning that rising rivers and further rainfall could prolong the emergency. Full details appear in reports on the flooding published on October 24.

Thousands evacuated in Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones

In Chaco province, between 1,200 and 1,300 people have evacuated or left their homes voluntarily, concentrated around Puerto Vilelas and Barranqueras, according to provincial reports. Neighbouring Corrientes has reported more than a thousand displaced residents.

In Paso de la Patria, a tourist town on the Paraná, floodwater overtopped a protective embankment and ran into residential streets. Some homes there have been submerged almost to their rooftops, and residents who stayed face difficult living conditions.

In Misiones province, storms on October 22 and 23 damaged more than 100 homes and forced road and bridge closures.

Iguazú Falls feels the surge

The flooding has also disrupted Iguazú Falls, one of South America's best-known natural attractions. During mid-October, the Iguazú River's flow reached approximately ten times its seasonal average, according to reports. Several visitor circuits have since reopened, but access to the Devil's Throat section remains closed.

A strengthening El Niño behind the rain

The flooding is occurring during an intensifying El Niño climate pattern. El Niño develops when surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific become unusually warm, altering atmospheric circulation and rainfall patterns around the world. Across south-eastern South America, it can increase the likelihood of unusually heavy rainfall and river flooding, although individual floods also depend on local rainfall intensity, soil saturation, river basin conditions and flood defences. Recent heavy rainfall across the upper Paraná, Uruguay and Iguazú watersheds has fed the current emergency.

The World Meteorological Organization warned on October 21 that temperatures in the central Pacific could rise 3.8 degrees Celsius above average between November and January, peaking around December. United Nations officials warned this week that the pattern could drive a record increase in Pacific Ocean temperatures as it moves around the globe like a wrecking ball, triggering floods in some regions and droughts in others.

The same storm season has hit neighbouring countries. In Paraguay, the rising Paraná has affected about 4,200 families, according to the country's national emergency agency, and a 58-year-old woman died after her home collapsed in the rains. In Ciudad del Este, dozens of residents took shelter at a church near the border with Brazil, pitching tents on a soccer field. Antonina Sánchez, 65, from the riverside town of San Rafael, said she was surprised by how fast the water arrived and described her house and kitchen as caving in. Reuters reported that above-average rainfall in parts of the Pampas agricultural belt could benefit crops, even as the same pattern floods the north-east.

What officials expect next

Chaco's provincial Civil Protection deputy secretary, Gustavo Santos, warned that river levels could keep fluctuating for several months. Additional rainfall forecast across the upper Paraná and Uruguay basins could send another surge of water downstream in the coming week, meaning some communities could flood again even after waters begin to recede.

Residents in affected areas have been urged to follow local civil defence instructions, avoid flooded roads and never attempt to cross fast-moving water. Authorities and residents will need to keep watching rainfall upstream as well as local river levels, since flooding on a river system the size of the Paraná can continue downstream long after the heaviest rain has ended.