BUENOS AIRES – More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the northeastern Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Santa Fe because of the flooding caused by a rise in the levels of the Uruguay and Parana rivers, officials said on Tuesday.

Entire families have left their homes and moved into shelters due to the torrential rains that have hit Entre Rios, leaving the province “devastated,” Entre Rios Gov. Sergio Urribarri told Argentine radio.

Concordia, a city in Entre Rios on the border with Uruguay, is one of the areas that has been most affected by the rise in the Uruguay River’s level in the past few hours, Urribarri said, adding that the situation could get worse.

Some 380 families have been forced to leave their homes in the city so far and the number of people fleeing the rains could rise during the course of the day, Concordia Mayor Gustavo Bordet said.

In Santa Fe, capital of the like-named province and located west of Entre Rios, the Parana River overflowed its banks, forcing more than 100 residents of riverside communities from their homes, emergency management officials said.

The provincial capital faces a dire situation because its drainage system “is absolutely inappropriate and inefficient,” Santa Fe Mayor Mario Barletta said.

The Parana River overflowed its banks in May 2003, killing about 20 people and forcing some 100,000 others from their homes in Santa Fe province, the majority of them residents of the capital.

The floods caused millions of dollars worth of damage in the province. EFE