Paraná River Flooding Evacuates 185 Families in Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay
Flooding from the rising Paraná River has evacuated 185 families, about 700 people, from the San Rafael neighborhood of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Paraguay's national emergency authority, the Secretaría de Emergencia Nacional (SEN), gave those figures, and the evacuations were continuing Oct. 12, 2026. Its regional coordinator, Miguel Almirón, gave the count to La Nación (Paraguay).
Paraguay's Defense Ministry gave a separate, lower figure for a related measure: 150 families affected by the flooding after heavy rain in the region. Defense Minister Óscar González gave that number to La Tribu 6:50 AM, La Nación (Paraguay) reported. SEN's count of 185 evacuated families had been reported about two hours earlier, according to the outlet. "The task is to evacuate people using light vehicles; everything is done in military and Itaipú trucks," González said on the radio. The municipality of Ciudad del Este also opened a shelter downtown.
The river's rise had already forced evacuations in Ciudad del Este, Concepción, Cerrito and Ayolas beginning around Oct. 11, 2026, when more than 60 families had already been assisted in Ciudad del Este's San Rafael neighborhood alone, according to ABC Color.
The Army and Navy have been running evacuation and rescue operations in both Ciudad del Este and Ayolas since Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, according to ABC Color. San Rafael was the hardest-hit neighborhood in Ciudad del Este, ABC Color reported. "The Paraná River is rising rapidly, and military personnel have been working intensively since Friday to evacuate people. We always have to start from the worst-case scenario to guarantee people's safety," González told ABC Cardinal radio. González and SEN's minister, Arsenio Zárate, traveled together to the emergency zone to coordinate the response, ABC Color reported.
The evacuations drew on more than 30 vehicles and several boats supplied by the armed forces, the Itaipú Binacional hydroelectric dam operator, SEN and the National Police, La Nación (Paraguay) reported. Evacuated families were taken to shelters in upper San Rafael or to relatives' or rented housing, and the Alto Paraná governor's office formed a departmental emergency operations center the same day.
President Santiago Peña ordered the armed forces, Itaipú, SEN, the Ministry of Social Development and other institutions to deploy their full operational capacity to protect and assist the families affected by the Paraná River's rise in Ciudad del Este, La Nación (Paraguay) reported.
In the Fátima neighborhood of Ciudad del Este, landslides brought down trees and caused homes to collapse, leaving some families without shelter and in urgent need of help, the outlet said.
More than 12 hours of continuous rain, from about 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, to past 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, also flooded streets and yards in the towns of Curuguaty and Yasy Cañy in Canindeyú department. No structural damage had been reported there as of Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, according to La Nación (Paraguay).
Justo Zacarías, director of Itaipú's flood-forecasting commission, said the river's rise was being driven by heavy rain in Brazil and that the water level could keep rising.
