ABSTRACT
Many cities of Latin America have large areas which become flooded. Strangely enough, the oldest sector of those cities, that one which was founded by the Spaniards, does not get flooded. Urbanisation processes introduce great modifications to the natural dynamics of hydrological cycles, affecting the three key parameters of the drainage, infiltration, and interception coefficients. Latin America’s urbanisation has its greatest expression in three metropoles, namely Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, whose explosive growth made vast areas impermeable to the natural infiltration into the ground of rainwater. Flooding in Buenos Aires is affected by the lack of general environmental policies for Argentina which would provide and all encompassing framework as well as administrative tools for the elaboration and implementation of any policies and plans for the Metropolitan Area. More than natural factors associated with floods in Buenos Aires’ Metropolitan Area, it seems that disasters are the result of economic, political, and social conditions.
