Santa Fe, capital of the , flooded in April

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. Santa Fe is the fifth most populated city in Argentina ( 370,000 inhabitants), and it is surrounded by rivers. The flooding was described as the worst since the city was founded in 1573.''Argentina fights flood waters''
BBC News, 2 May 2003. At the end of April 2003, several days of heavy rainfall caused some major rivers in the Santa Fe area to rise as much as 50 cm in 12 hours. The water level of the Salado River (which flows through the north of the province and empties into the

Paraná Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

) rose by almost two metres in just three hours. On 28 April, the Salado overflowed its margins and flooded large sections of Santa Fe.Argentina: Santa Fé Province Floods Information Bulletin No. 01/03

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About 100,000 people had to be evacuated, 154 people died, and 28,000 houses were damaged or destroyed. A dyke had to be blown up in order for ease the flow of the floodwaters out of the city. In this key area for the agricultural and ranching industries, over 30,000 km² of farmland were destroyed. The flood hit the capital hardest, but many other communities were also affected. The flood was unusual because it is generally the east side of Santa Fe, beside the Paraná, which is affected by floodings. Salado River floodings are less usual. Soon after the initial flooding,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...

declared the province a "disaster zone" and announced a $2 million emergency aid package. The

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later offered an additional $110 million. The

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

launched an emergency appeal in response to the flooding on 6 May. According to a UN assessment requested by the provincial governor

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One from to and served as the Governor of Santa Fe from 1999 to 2003. Reutemann was runner-up in the Form ...

, the total damages were about $1,000 million, and implied the loss of about 12% of Santa Fe's GDP. The rains continued into the next days, exacerbating the catastrophe. As of 8 May, a quarter of Santa Fe remained under water. Precarious evacuation centres appeared in the capital and nearby towns to accommodate the evacuees. The provincial government was heavily criticized for ignoring warnings about the possibility of a sudden rise of the Salado River, and for ignoring appeals to build the necessary preventive infrastructure to contain or divert floods. The official treatment of the people who lost their homes, possessions and jobs was also questioned; food relief and promised subsidies for reconstruction were insufficient. Governor Reutemann saw the end of his term in office marked by these problems. The critical situation of Argentina at the time (recovering from a major

economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...

) did not help. On 30 January 2004, nine months after the flood and under the administration of Jorge Obeid, a demonstration asking for government assistance to those affected by the flood ended with the burning of the government house's facade and several offices destroyed.

References

{{reflist
''Argentina flood toll rises''
BBC News, 3 May 2003.
''Argentine flood inflicts $1 billion in damages''
United Nations Development Programme, Newsfront, 23 July 2003. * U.S. National Climatic Data Center. ''Global Hazards and Significant Events''

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* ReliefWeb. ''Argentina flood response''
May 2003
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June 2003Appeal No. 10/03
Santa Fe flood 2000s floods in South America 2003 floods

History of Santa Fe Province Santa Fe Flood, 2003 Climate of Argentina 2003 disasters in Argentina April 2003 in South America