BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — At least 25 people were killed by flooding overnight in Argentina's Buenos Aires province, the governor said Wednesday, raising the overall death toll from days of torrential rains to 31 and leaving large stretches of the provincial capital under water.
Gov. Daniel Scioli said many of the deaths involved people who drowned after trying to take shelter in their cars in Tolosa, an area of the provincial capital of La Plata.
"Such intense rain in so little time has left many people trapped in their cars, in the streets, in some cases electrocuted. We are giving priority to rescuing people who have been stuck in trees or on the roofs of their homes," Scioli said at a news conference. La Plata "has never seen anything equal" to this disaster, he added.
The rains also flooded the country's largest refinery, causing a fire that took hours to put out. The refinery has suspended operations as a result, and Argentina's YPF oil company said it has an emergency team evaluating how to get it restarted again.
The rains — almost 16 inches in about two hours — hit provincial La Plata after causing widespread flooding and power failures and killing six people in the city of Buenos Aires the day before.