Thousands to be evacuated from Venezuela's killer floods
Venezuela sent military helicopters and patrol boats to evacuate thousands of people stranded along the coast from floods and landslides that have killed at least 14.
Troops using boats planned to evacuate about 6,000 people from parts of the mountainous Caribbean coast cut off by overflowing rivers, said Colonel Antonio Rivero, the country’s civil protection chief.
While officials were still surveying the damage, about 3,700 people have had their homes destroyed in the floods brought on by torrential rain.
“The river grew so much and it kept raining, and that scared us,” said Jose Castillo, 36, who was flown out of the small coastal town of Naiguata with his wife and stepdaughter.
Five years ago, the same coastal state of Vargas was struck by catastrophic floods and mudslides that left between 6,000 and 10,000 dead, according to government estimates.
