Intense rain and flooding linked to the El Nino effect has claimed the lives of at least 67 people in Peru, while thousands of others have been displaced or are awaiting rescue, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. Prime Minister Fernando Zavala said an emergency has been declared across half the country in a bid to hasten the delivery of aid to affected areas, Reuters reported.
With the Andean country receiving 10 times its average rainfall, weather officials have predicted another month of flooding. The extreme weather has been attributed to local conditions. The warming of the ocean’s surface, a sign of the El Nino phenomenon, is expected to continue along the country’s coast through April, said Dimitri Gutierrez, a scientist with Peru’s El Nino committee. The phenomenon has been known to trigger flooding and drought.
Residents in Peru’s predominantly desert terrain are grappling with flooded homes and streets. “We are confronting a serious climatic problem. There has not been an incident of this strength along the coast of Peru since 1998,” President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said in a statement.
Peru must revamp its infrastructure in accordance with the “tropicalisation” of the northern desert coast, which has been predicted, said Jorge Chavez, who is supervising the government’s operation.
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