Four children were rescued after being swept away by a river in Zulia

• The rains in the state caused damage to at least six homes and 10 hectares of plantations

Venezuelan risk management teams rescued four indigenous children from the Wayuu ethnic group who were swept away by a river in the state of Zulia (west, bordering Colombia), Civil Protection (PC) reported on Sunday, July 7.

“Officials from the National Risk Management System of the state of Zulia rescued four children of the Wayuu ethnic group, displaced by the Quintanillo River in the Los Machado sector, Sucre municipality,” the institution indicated in a publication on the social network X, where it shared photographs of the rescue operation.

📌 Officials of the National Risk Management System of the state #Zulia They rescued 4 children from the Wayuu ethnic group, displaced by the Quintanillo River in the Los Machado sector, Sucre municipality. In the area, 6 homes and 10 hectares of plantations were affected. pic.twitter.com/LzhWeu2LCw

— Civil Protection (@PCivil_Ve) July 7, 2024

He also said that six homes and 10 hectares of plantations were affected by the rains.

Civil Protection added that it is “constantly monitoring” another river in Zulia state, since it surpassed its crest and leaked through the base of the retaining wall.

“Sandbags were used to contain the overflow crest,” he explained.

Floods and bridge collapses

On Friday, July 5, Venezuelan Minister of Transportation Ramón Velásquez reported that heavy rains in the early morning caused a bridge linking the western states of Apure and Táchira to collapse, bordering Colombia.

Velásquez, who shared photos showing the bridge collapsed over the river on social media X, said that due to this fact, pedestrian and vehicle traffic remains restricted.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reported that three people died in Sucre state as a result of the Manzanares River overflowing due to Hurricane Beryl.

Photo: Archive

A day later, the president said that the search for the five missing people in the area, where there are some 2,600 officials, including Civil Protection, firefighters and police, continues.

The Minister of Habitat and Housing, Ildemaro Villarroel, added that, in total, 7,990 houses are counted “with some type of affectation” and, for the moment, the “total loss” of 360 houses, whose inhabitants are in “solidarity shelters, that is, in a neighbor’s house,” which demonstrates – he expressed – a “high level of solidarity from the people.”

With information from EFE

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