Thirteen years ago, on April 2-3, 2013, La Plata faced one of its worst disasters: a flood that left 89 dead and over 300 injured. The nearly 400 mm of rain that fell in a short time caused streets to flood and rivers to overflow, leaving residents no time to react. Neighbors recall what they were doing during the storm, how they overcame the ordeal, the pain of their losses, and even their anger at the lack of support from authorities. Pablo Lugano, a local journalist and resident, spoke with the Argentine News Agency and shared his memories: that night he was at a friend's son's birthday party when the rain started. "We were in the garage when we saw the water rising. It was desperate," he emphasized. Verónica Albanese, a radio host born in La Plata but now living in the capital, recalled trying to call her parents and friends, but no one answered. "The phone lines were down, so I called but no one picked up. I wanted to go to them, but everyone told me not to because no one knew what was going to happen," she said. Fortunately, her parents' shop was flooded, but the water did not reach a critical level. However, they lost some products. "Nothing was the same in the city after that," she added. She also remembered what happened to an acquaintance: "My cousin's friends were taking things out of the house, getting into the car to leave. They put the baby stroller down, but the water took it away, and they never saw their son again." Many people were trapped in their cars for two days, waiting for the water to subside, unable to even go out to buy food. Lugano also recounted how neighbors began to help each other in the following days. He remembers one story: "There was a person on an upper floor who refused to come down, even though we told him he had to at least come down to eat. We all stayed with him until the next morning." Lugano noted that at that time he lived in the same house where he lives now, and although his area was on high ground, his home had about four centimeters of water. "It was a very sad day." "I think when the water went down, we saw the reality. At first, we thought nothing would happen because we were in a high area, but within minutes all 20 of us ended up on the first floor of a building." He also mentioned a family trapped in a blue Peugeot 206. "I remember it was six in the evening, the water had already covered everything, and we saw a family trapped inside a car." Albanese also shared a story about an elderly woman: "She was a 70-year-old woman, and she told us she didn't want to leave because that room held all her memories." However, Lugano maintains that a situation that caused outrage was what happened with the mayor, Pablo Oscar Bruera: "He sent a message to the people of La Plata saying he was working to solve the crisis, when in fact he was on a beach in Brazil and didn't return until almost two days after the flood." Finally, Lugano expressed: "The flood didn't last long, but the aftermath was the real horror. It wasn't until a month later that I could see my parents because they didn't want me to approach them."
