Homes and businesses on Aranda Street, as well as public and private establishments along La Facultad Avenue, suffered flooding on August 15 and 22. Residents blame the highway expansion for the collapse and are calling on authorities to take action
Vanessa Davies
Was the overflowing of the Valle River the chronicle of a death foretold? Ask Sergio Pérez, and he will say yes. Put the same question to Rafael Csernath López, and he will answer: of course. Both live on Aranda Street in Los Chaguaramos, an area that has suffered flooding on two consecutive Saturdays — August 15 and 22.
This is not the first time Pérez has warned that the area is at risk. But, as he tells it, whenever he complained to different authorities, they called him a “pain in the ass” and a “cranky old man.” After the first overflow, on Saturday, August 15, the community leader sent letters to the Ministries of Transportation and Public Works, as well as to the Ministry of Health. He told the first two that work carried out in the riverbed to expand the highway had put the community at risk. He warned the Health Ministry that sewage and garbage carried by the river could pose a public health hazard.
An altered riverbed
On August 20, Pérez made three requests to the Ministries of Transportation and Public Works: remove the garbage, rubble, and solid waste accumulated around the pillars inside the river, dredge the riverbed, and carry out preventive and corrective maintenance. He also warned the Health Ministry that the contaminated water was “creating high-risk sources of infection that threaten public health.”
Just a few days later, history repeated itself — only much worse. Anabel Pérez lost contact with her father, Sergio, on Saturday, August 22. When she arrived at his home, she found a disaster. The walls still bear the marks of what happened. The furniture floated. The water swept away the family’s memories. “What could have been prevented through maintenance and by heeding the warnings wasn’t done; they didn’t listen to us. This is the second time we’ve been affected, and now more people have been affected too.”
On La Facultad Avenue, mud also took over public and private establishments, where people tried to clear it out with shovels and hoses.
On Aranda Street, families continue cleaning their homes while a crew from the Caracas Mayor’s Office works to remove all the debris. “In the 78 years we’ve been here, the river has occasionally overflowed, but never to the levels we’re seeing now,” Csernath says. What worries him most is that this is not clean river water: “It’s sewage” that came pouring through their windows.
Anabel Pérez and her family have devoted themselves to cleaning the house with help from friends. Although they have not yet calculated their losses, they know that starting over will not be easy. Above all, they hope there will not be a third time.
