A rare tornado ripped through a rural town in Uruguay on Friday, leaving three dead and 200 injured. The government declared a state of emergency and deployed state resources to assist those affected.
Homes were left without roofs, with cars blown into them and with collapsed walls. Barns and grain storages were also destroyed and dozens of cows died in the three-minute tornado that swept everything in its path in the agricultural town of Dolores, located about 190 miles west of the capital, Montevideo.
"The event was very serious, caused property damage, but what worries us most is that there are many victims," said head of the National Emergency System, Juan Andres Roballo, in a press conference.
A dozen people are still missing, according to official information. Dolores, located in the department of Soriano, has about 20,000 inhabitants.