Heavy rains fell Monday for seventeen hours without stopping, causing a torrent that rushed down an avenue for more than a kilometer.
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Torrential rains, the strongest in twenty years, caused flooding in Quito, killing at least 24 people, dozens injured and 12 missing, according to the latest provisional report from the authorities on Tuesday February 1. The scale of the destruction in the capital of Ecuador, which has 2.7 million inhabitants, is unparalleled. The authorities have decided to mourn there for three days.
The rain, which fell Monday for seventeen hours without stopping, caused a retention pond to overflow, causing a torrent which tumbled down an avenue for more than a kilometer in the center of the city. The basin, with a capacity of 4,500 m3, broke after receiving nearly four times the usual flow, said the mayor. Torrents of water carrying stones and mud then swept away cars and flooded houses and streets, according to images released by the emergency services and the media. Several buildings were damaged, including a police station and an electricity station.
The authorities have not ruled out that other bodies may be discovered under the mud and rubble, while soldiers accompanied by dogs continued the search. President Guillermo Lasso, visiting China since Monday, sent his condolences on Twitter to the families bereaved by “the tragedy of La Gasca”. The heavy rains that have been beating Ecuador since October have already hit 22 of its 24 provinces, killing at least 18 people and injuring 24, according to a report from the National Risk Management Service established before Monday’s bad weather.