Violent storms have claimed seven lives and caused severe devastation in Uruguay, local media reported Sunday, according to dpa. The storms, which included at least one tornado, also left more than 2,000 people homeless. The newspaper El Pais reported about 500 houses were damaged. One of the worst affected was the town of Dolores in western Uruguay. Four people were killed after a tornado on Friday left a trail of destruction in the town, located some 240 kilometres north-west of the capital, Montevideo. Several houses collapsed in Dolores, which has a population of about 25,000. President Tabare Vلsquez proclaimed a state of emergency in the region around Dolores. The three other deaths occurred due to floods in other parts of the country.
