ASUNCION – Nearly 6,000 families, or about 30,000 people, have been affected by the flooding in Asuncion, Paraguayan emergency management officials said Sunday. The floods were caused by a rise in the level of the Paraguay River, which runs through the capital, the Municipal Emergency and Disaster Council, or Comueda, said. The families affected by the floods are being housed in 66 shelters, where they are being provided with water, electricity and medical care, Comueda director Nidia Lopez told radio station 970. Comueda is also providing building materials, such as wood and zinc sheets, to those who do not want to abandon their homes, Lopez said. Some residents refused to leave their homes because shelters are located far from schools and jobs, the Asuncion emergency management chief said. Some 2,721 families in Bañado Sur, or about 13,600 people, and 3,270 families in Bañado Norte, or some 16,300 people, are being assisted by Comueda, Lopez said. The “bañados” are the riverside neighborhoods, generally extremely poor areas, around Asuncion. These neighborhoods have existed “forever” and their “only owner is the river,” Lopez said, referring to the periodic flooding in these areas caused by the rise of the Paraguay River’s level. The 2014 floods forced 85,000 people from their homes in the capital and affected about 200,000 people across Paraguay.