The Argentine city of Bahia Blanca was bracing Monday for more stormy weather, 10 days after a deluge that resulted in a reported 16 deaths, flooded fields in agricultural areas and shut down operations at the city's port.
Much of the area around Bahia Blanca already had excessive soil moisture levels following the storm on 7 March, with localized flooding of corn, soybean and sunflower fields, Argentina's economy ministry reported last week. The southern part of Buenos Aires province also produces wheat and barley, among other crops.
Bahia Blanca's port is an exporting facility for those crops. Operations at the port shut down due to a loss of power supply and other effects of the storm on 7 March, the port authority reported.
Operations at the port have resumed with little damage to its terminals and other facilities, though roads and railways leading to the port suffered heavy damage, news site Argenports.com reported last week.
Scattered storms with rainfall between 0.8 inch and 1.6 inches, or more in some areas, in a short period of time are expected in a wide area in the south of Buenos Aires province, the country's National Meteorological Service reported.
The downpours will be accompanied by gusts of wind approaching 50 miles per hour (80 km/hr) and hail, the Service said. The area around Bahia Blanca and parts of the towns of Saavedra, Tornquist and Coronel Pringles and other municipalities in the south of the province are the subject of the alert.
The 7 March storm left 16 people dead and dumped about 12 inches of rain on the city and surrounding areas in just eight hours, according to local news reports.
