Several residential sectors, streets and avenues in Barcelona and Puerto La Cruz, metropolitan area of Anzoátegui state, suffered flooding after heavy rains this Monday, May 16, caused by the passage of the first Tropical Wave of the season.
The rains began around 6 in the morning causing flooding in the main avenues of the conurbation, such as the Jorge Rodríguez intercommunal, which connects Barcelona, Puerto La Cruz and Lechería and the main one in the Los Cerezos sector of Puerto la Cruz.
The circulation of cars was slow and in some sections the rain was mixed with sewage due to overflowing in manholes of the main collectors.
But the water also entered the houses of the Los Vidriales urbanization, in Barcelona, where the water exceeded 40 centimeters.
Councilor Luis Ravelo denounced that in Los Vidriales "the sewage pumping station is still not working and there is a plug of weeds at the mouth of the southern canal", which is why the sector was flooded.
According to reports from the director of Civil Protection of the municipality of Bolívar, Luisana to Tiapa, the most affected sectors were Cayaurima and Bicentennial of March 29, and the water entered some houses, leaving no damage to equipment and furniture.
In addition, there were floods in the streets of Nueva Barcelona, Las Casitas, El Viñedo, Tronconales, Fundación Mendoza and Mesones.
In Puerto La Cruz, the leader Astrid Silvestri reported the overflow of sewage and flooding in the Bello Monte sector of Puerto La Cruz that damaged the Andrés Bello Elementary School.
Clean to prevent flooding
While the sanitation crews of the Environmental Services Corporation (Coservas) and municipal engineering were deployed to reinforce the cleaning and garbage collection work in the streets, avenues, canals and sewers of the city, during the rain.
Mayor Nelson Moreno reported that before the onset of rainfall, sanitation operations have been carried out in the city, allowing rainwater to circulate normally.
Moreno specified that the operational team will remain deployed executing the days of sanitation and collection of solid waste throughout the municipality.
landslide warning
In Lechería, the landslide alert was activated from the upper part of El Morro hill to the road.
The mayor of Urbaneja, Manuel Ferreira reported that a crew of workers was activated to remove the rocky material that had fallen on the road.
For his part, the director of municipal Civil Protection, Gustavo Castillo, reported that they maintain constant monitoring in risk areas, especially those located in the lower part of the city, such as Rómulo Gallegos, Santa Rosa and the central town.
He said that rainfall of different intensities is expected and that 15 officials are on preventive guard 24 hours a day and pay special attention to the behavior of the waves in the Lechería spas.
Suspension of classes
The suspension of the electricity supply was also the cause of the bad weather generated by the rainfall of variable intensity that occurred in the area.
In some schools in Barcelona they suspended academic activities in the morning, due to the blackout.
But at the Pedro Briceño Méndez high school, in the Simón Rodríguez municipality, classes were suspended due to the conditions in which different areas remained after the rain recorded on Sunday night and the morning of Monday, May 16.
The facilities fill with water due to the lack of roofs and every time it rains the more than a thousand students cannot be received.
