Monday December 20 11:14 PM ET

Venezuelan Floods Kill at Least 10,000 People

By Tom Ashby

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (Reuters) - The death toll from mudslides and flash floods that swamped Venezuela's Caribbean coast last week rose to at least 10,000 on Monday, as hundreds of desperate survivors ransacked the main cargo port.

Troops fired shots into the air at La Guaira port as disheveled looters, many barefoot, broke into containers and escaped with children's toys, work tools and boxes of fine imported foods like smoked salmon and Swiss cheese.

While some hungrily devoured their bounty sitting on the mud-caked streets, troops caught about eight youths and forced them to lie face down, their hands clasped behind their necks.

The streets around the port teemed with people left behind after a massive air, land and sea evacuation of coastal Vargas state which was devastated by torrential rains that lashed the South American country last week.

``Definitely it won't be less than 10,000 dead,'' Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel told Reuters. ``There are bodies in the sea, bodies buried under mud, bodies everywhere.''

At a news conference later, Rangel said the death toll could reach 20,000, adding that ``any figure we give is more in the realm of speculation than reality.''

more at website...

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), December 21, 1999

Answers

Sadly...might be coming soon to a 'theatre' near you.

-- Satanta (EventHoriz@n.com), December 21, 1999.

I wonder if looters and property owner will start "playing for keeps" right away after TSHTF, or will things gradually escalate from normal rioting and looting to a Rwanda type bloodbath over a period of several days?

I think it's in the back of a lot people's minds that Y2K could be damn near as bad as a nuclear war. Maybe everybody will go apeshit at the same time, and start tearing into each other like rats in some kind of experiment.

-- Ocotillo (peeling@out.===), December 21, 1999.

Be sure to include a big "Mag" light with your stockpile - something to beat the looters off with!!

-- Santa "Claws" is coming to town! (reedfish@ix.netcom.com), December 21, 1999.

Very sad situation.

Mudslides... probably for want of trees.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 21, 1999.

I read the article. One thing was obvious, the place is not inhabitable. So this port is sitting with salmon and swiss cheese in a dead zone that its supplies can never be unloaded into. Nothing is there. There aren't any shops. The people are all being evacuated.

Why the heck wasn't the salmon and cheese distributed to these people? If it was money I'd have sent two bucks to cover someones "looted" portion of the salmon and cheese.

I'm not finding fault with these people. Not in this case.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), December 21, 1999.

Just heard on the news that there are now 40,000 dead, 150,000 homeless, and unknown 1000's buried alive in their homes without food, water or electricity.

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 21, 1999.