Day after the storm: 30 traffic lights broken, power cuts affect BA city

There were thirty city traffic lights reportedly out of service while many neighbourhoods were still being affected by power cuts following the storms that affected the Capital last night. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner contacted Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri by phone, to offer any help he needed in dealing with effects of yesterday’s floods.

The head of the City Civic Defence, Daniel Russo, informed that “30 traffic lights were left out of service at the intersection of Cabildo and La Pampa, Cabildo and Mendoza, Juan B. Justo and Charcas and Marcelo T. de Alvear with Callao.”

Some of the neighbourhoods most affected by power cuts included “Parque Patricios, Once, Caseros, Barrio Norte, Recoleta and Liniers,” stated Russo in a radio interview this morning.

The city government member also indicated that the electricity companies informed that “they are cleaning up the flooded areas and that by midday today the service should be back to normal.”

The flash flood that occurred yesterday evening saw more than 60 millimetres of rainfall over a period of two hours, causing major delays to the subway service, including along lines D (Catedral-Congreso de Tucumán), C (Retiro-Constitución) and line H (which runs between Pueyrredón and Corrientes up to Parque Patricios).

Russo informed that today that the subway system was “running as normal.”

In addition to the transport delays and power outages, last night’s storms caused many trees to fall in and around the city, while many bars and shops were flooded, notably in the northern areas of the city.