Venezuela Floods Kill at Least 25 after Heavy Rains

People sit surrounded by belongings following floods due to heavy rains, in Las Tejerias, Aragua state, Venezuela October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
People sit surrounded by belongings following floods due to heavy rains, in Las Tejerias, Aragua state, Venezuela October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
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Venezuela Floods Kill at Least 25 after Heavy Rains

People sit surrounded by belongings following floods due to heavy rains, in Las Tejerias, Aragua state, Venezuela October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
People sit surrounded by belongings following floods due to heavy rains, in Las Tejerias, Aragua state, Venezuela October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

At least 25 people died and 52 were missing after five small rivers in central Venezuela flooded due to heavy rains, Citizen Security Vice President Remigio Ceballos said Sunday evening in a televised address.

The downpour on Saturday night swept large tree trunks and debris from surrounding mountains into the community of Tejerias, 40 miles (67 kilometers) southwest of Caracas, damaging businesses and farmland, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said earlier in the day.

Rodriguez said that a month's worth of rain had fallen in just eight hours and pumps used to power the community's drinking water system were carried away in the flood waters, Reuters reported.

Rodriguez said the priority was to locate people still trapped under mud and rocks throughout the town, while military and rescue personnel also searched the riverbanks for survivors.

"We have lost boys, girls," the vice president said from a flooded street in Tejerias. "What has happened in the town of Tejerias is a tragedy."

President Nicolas Maduro said in a tweet that he had designated the area a disaster zone and had declared three days of mourning.



IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
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IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country's nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran's facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran's parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency's inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

"An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict," the IAEA said on X.

According to Reuters, diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors' safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

IAEA WANTS TALKS

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"(Grossi) reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible," the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran's three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran's nine tons of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries' declarations. But the bombing of Iran's facilities has now muddied the waters.

"We cannot afford that .... the inspection regime is interrupted," Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.