170,000 evacuated by unprecedented floods in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Source: InfoNews
One of the worst rains and floods in recent decades has left more than 170,000 evacuees in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay. Authorities remain on alert after the Paraná and Uruguay rivers and a number of tributaries overflowed their banks. Paraguay was the most affected, with 130,000 evacuees.
The effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon - resulting from the interaction between the ocean and atmosphere in the Eastern and Central Pacific equatorial areas - are the most destructive since 1950 and may continue until the first quarter of 2016, according to the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Argentina:
Two people died and 20,000 were evacuated in three provinces of northeastern Argentina, mainly because of flooding of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, according to recent reports from the authorities. Entre Ríos is the most affected province with about 10,500 displaced from their homes. Most are in Concordia, a city of 170,000 on the banks of the Uruguay River which according to authorities is suffering its worst flooding in 50 years.
The Governor of Entre Ríos, Gustavo Bordet, and the Secretary of Human Development of Concordia, Guillermo Echenause, reported Saturday that a state of alert remains in the city - although Uruguay River levels have recently decreased a little as a result of good weather, according to Governor Bordet. The Uruguay River, however, remains at 15.86 meters (52 feet) - nearly a meter (3 ft) above flood stage.
Brazil:
The overflowing Uruguay River also affected the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul (southern Brazil), where 1,795 families (9,000 people) were displaced by the storm in recent days. On Saturday, President Dilma Rousseff flew over Uruguaiana, a city of 125,000 on the banks of the Uruguay River. "Brazil suffers the El Niño phenomenon with heavy rains in the south and a terrible drought in the northeast," Rousseff said. Major Rinaldo da Silva Castro of the Regional Civil Defense said that 38 cities in the region were affected by flooding along the Uruguay and Quaraí rivers.
Paraguay:
Heavy El Niño storms also caused disastrous flooding in Paraguay, the country most affected by this disaster. Flooding along the Paraguay River has provoked 130,000 evacuated (out of a population of just 7 million), authorities said. Four people were crushed by falling trees and the capital, Asunción, remains without electricity. Paraguayan President Horacio Cartés declared a state of emergency to release more than $3.5 million in care for evacuees.
Uruguay:
Northern Uruguay saw 9,083 evacuees by Saturday, of which 7,185 evacuated voluntarily according to the latest report from the National Emergency System (Sinae).
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I should note that the new neocon president, who just handed Argentina's big agro (his biggest donors) nearly $10 billion in immediate tax cuts by decree, has already made statements to the effect that "budgets are too tight to deal with this properly" and that "people should donate." Right.
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And he loves his vacations.
Famously, during severe flooding in parts of Buenos Aires in 2013, he was caught playing a pick-up game of football in his weekend house in suburban Los Nogales - while he was mayor.
He actually can't play; but he always wins (know what I mean?).
They certainly share that peculiar callousness you often see in such people.
Blessings sometimes come in disguises though. I knew Dubya had jumped the shark when he stood there with his horse breeder friend the FEMA director - and almost a week too late - and said that a "heck of a job" was being done in New Orleans.
Well, I'm glad somebody found a use for him. 
