The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, AMIA, the Tzedakah Fund and Chabad are responding to provide relief to the Jewish community of Bahia Blanca, Argentina, after over a foot of water — more rainfall than the city expected in all of March — fell within the span of a few hours over the weekend. 

Bahia Blanca, a mid-sized port city 400 miles south of Buenos Aires, is home to a Jewish community of about 500 families. According to Sergio Widder, JDC’s regional director for Latin America, the community has had a long-standing relationship with JDC since many residents settled there after fleeing the Nazis during World War II. Widder credits the ability to respond quickly to the crisis to JDC’s yearslong relationship with the community, and its responses to similar floods in Brazil and Poland last year.

The torrential rainfall, which was unexpected and unprecedented in the city, has already led to at least 13 deaths, a number local authorities expect to rise as the flooding subsides. According to Widder, the storm has also led many to evacuate and created issues with connectivity, making it difficult to coordinate with the local population. 

“People are losing everything. This was a total collapse of the city, an absolute collapse,” Widder told eJewishPhilanthropy. 

Jewish organizations banded together within the first few hours of the crisis to provide support to the community, including medicine, housing, food, personal hygiene and cleaning supplies. According to Widder, issues with cellphone connectivity due to the storm have made consistent communication difficult. As a result, representatives from AMIA, JDC and Hosen — an AMIA-led group that coordinates emergency responses, particularly related to psychological and emotional support — arrived in the city late last night to assess needs. 

According to Daniel Pomerantz, the CEO of AMIA, the organization quickly started a matching fund so that members of the Buenos Aires Jewish community — which houses 85% of the country’s Jewry — can provide financial support to those impacted. “If it’s not enough, we will provide the money that they need,” Pomerantz told eJP.

Though the community has received an outpouring of support, a “tsunami of solidarity,” according to Widder,  the exact impact of the storm on the Jewish community won’t be clear until later tonight, when the representatives have had the chance to conduct their needs assessment.