09 September,2009 08:37 AM IST | | IANS
At least 13 people were killed, one person was missing and more than 100 were injured by storms that raked the regions along the border between Brazil and Argentina.
Nine people were kiled - included six children - while a young girl was missing and 61 others were injured early Tuesday when a tornado hit San Pedro in Misiones province of northeastern Argentine, authorities said.
In southern Brazil, the town worst hit by the wind was Guaraciaba, in the state of Santa Catarina on the Argentine border, where the storm left four people dead and more than 60 injured and damaged 70 percent of homes.
The heavy rain and strong winds damaged homes and toppled trees in the jungle area of northeastern Argentina.
Hospital officials in San Pedro told Argentine radio that 18 of the injured suffered serious wounds, including skull fractures, other broken bones and deep cuts, and they had to be transferred to better-equipped health centres.
"It is the first time that something of this magnitude has happened in the area. There are houses that were completely destroyed," Misiones civil defence director Ricardo Veselka Corrales said.
San Pedro Mayor Orlando Wolfart noted that the tornado had ripped up entire forests as well tearing homes from their foundations.
"Everything has disappeared," he said.
The first storm struck late Monday and was followed by another round of violent weather hours later.
"Paths were blocked by trees and covered in dirt. We had to open them up to reach the injured for assistance," Wolfart said.
Power lines were damaged, as were tobacco warehouses.
In Brazil, wind speeds reached 120 km per hour.
Guaraciaba Mayor Ademir Zimmerman said the situation was "desperate".
"I have no doubt that it was a tornado, given the type of destruction," said Marcio Alves, civil defence coordinator for Santa Catarina.
He said 2,300 buildings were destroyed in the state, while 44 of the 64 people injured remained hospitalized. Scattered power outages continued.
In the neighbouring state of Rio Grande do Sul, at least 310 people had to leave their homes in the towns of Itaara and Victor Graef, where the wind was accompanied by hail.
