Up to 30,000 Numbered cement plaques and flowers adorn the graves of flood victims in Caracas, Venezuela. Many of the victims had to be buried before relatives could identify them. The death toll could go as high as 30,000. The paratrooper broke into tears as he pulled a thick wad of identification cards from his pocket.
Death toll rises.
Official estimates of the death toll reach as high as 30,000. The death toll would make it one of Latin America's worst natural disaster of the 20th century. The paratrooper, Col. Mario Arvalaez, a commander of an elite unit that is leading the rescue effort, gazed at the tarmac where the wounded were being whisked from helicopters and wept for the dead. The smell of death was everywhere along the northern coast, the area most heavily hit Wednesday when mud, boulders and water came crashing down a mountain that separates the capital of Caracas from the Caribbean Sea. Rescued flooding victims stumbled off helicopters at the nation's main airport, which has turned into a chaotic refugee center.