Story of cities #46: the gated Buenos Aires community which left its poor neighbours under water

The richest and poorest residents of Argentina's capital are separated by the walls of gated communities. When heavy rains in 2013 left those outside the barriers vulnerable to severe flooding, their only hope was to tear them down

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On 2 April 2013, Matias Duarte awoke at three in the morning. For once it was not the noise of his alarm clock that stirred him, but the sound of pouring rain outside - and a room flooded to the level of his bed.

Duarte lived in Las Tunas, a working-class neighbourhood 35km north-west of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Running through the centre of the neighbourhood is the arroyo Las Tunas, a small creek. Though the arroyo had flooded before, it had never been this severe.