CONCORDIA, Argentina -- Tens of thousands of people in several South American countries are spending the holidays in shelters after massive flooding forced them from their homes.
The flooding, caused by heavy rains and bulging rivers, come at the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere's summer months. That means that evacuees are also dealing with heat, mosquitoes and snakes.
Josefina Monson is a 33-year-old Argentine in Concordia, about 264 miles (425 kilometres) north of Buenos Aires. She has taken refuge in a school since being evacuated on Christmas Eve.
She told The Associated Press on Monday that faucet water had been contaminated and "bugs were everywhere."
At least 20,000 have been evacuated in Argentina. Neighboring Paraguay has been hardest hit, with 100,000 evacuating. Several thousand have also been evacuated in Uruguay and southern Brazil.