7 of 10 S America roll: Peru, Chile and Bolivia hit by floods

[Andrey Eroshin]

10.02.13.

Torrential rain has been creating havoc along the Pacific coast side of South America, with flooding causing the deaths of at least six people in Peru.

In the southern city of Arequipa, thousands of people were left without electricity and drinking water.

In Bolivia, nearly 9,000 families across the country were affected by flooding, said the authorities.

A downpour in the Andean region of Chile has also led to fresh water shortages in the capital, Santiago.

Authorities say four million people were affected by the cuts to freshwater supplies caused by landslides near San Jose de Maipo.

They reportedly contaminated two rivers that supply the city's water plants.

Aguas Andinas water company said it would start restoring the supply on Saturday night and expected to bring it back to normal by Sunday afternoon.

Last week, even Chile's Atacama desert, one of the driest places in the world, suffered with heavy rain.

Three weeks ago, another contamination of the river Maipo left at least two thirds of the 5 million residents of the capital without water.

In Peru, authorities have declared a state of emergency in Arequipa.

The national meteorological service said that the bad weather brought down the equivalent of three months of rain in about seven hours.

"It's a record of records. There are no records of an event of this magnitude", the local director of the service, Sebastian Zuniga, told the Andina news agency.

At least two bodies were found in a car that submerged in the mud after a road collapsed.

More than 48,000 people are said to have been affected by the rain.

Torrential rain has also fallen over most regions in neighbouring Bolivia.

Nearly 9,000 people are said to have been affected and crops lost to the rain.

Last week, Brazil announced it would send 500 tonnes of rice to aid Bolivians hit by the natural disaster.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21399408

http://peru21.pe/actualidad/fotos-magnitud-desastre-pluvial-arequip...
http://www.larepublica.pe/09-02-2013/asi-amanecio-arequipa-despues-...
http://www.biobiochile.cl/2013/02/09/llovizna-habria-provocado-soca...
http://www.losandesonline.cl/noticias/20683/tres-casas-y-una-sede-s...

[Andrey Eroshin]

23.01.13. Break and rock collapse in Serra Geral de Goiás, Correntina - Bahia, Brazil

http://www.dinomarmiranda.com/2013/02/divulgadas-novas-imagens-do-d...

[Andrey Eroshin]

Landslide in Cusco, Perú

http://www.rpp.com.pe/2013-02-15-declaran-emergencia-en-cusco-por-l...

[Kojima]

Australians trapped after Argentina landslides [the age.com.au: 13 Feb 2013]

Eight Australians are believed to be trapped in South America after severe landslides hit Argentina.

The Australian climbers were reported to have been at the Puente del Inca, a naturally-formed arching bridge over a river about 1400 kilometres west of Buenos Aires when the first of the landslides hit on Thursday.

"We are aware of media reports that eight Australians have reportedly been affected by the landslides in the Puente del Inca region of Argentina", a spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

"The Australian Embassy in Buenos Aires is contacting local authorities to determine their whereabouts and check on their welfare."

Hundreds of people have been left stranded after heavy rain caused several landslides and rockfalls across the Mendoza province. Hundreds more have been evacuated.

Tonnes of mud and rock have blocked paths and roads in and out of Puente del Inca and the surrounding area, in what clean-up boss Miguel Manuel Rivas described as "a catastrophe, a tsunami of mud and stone".

The Los Andes newspaper in Argentina reported that the Australian climbers tried to get around path controls in the area to try to reach the base of Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas. It is part of the Andes mountain range, which borders Peru and Argentina.

The newspaper reported that park rangers saw the Australians try to avoid the park controls and stopped them from continuing on their journey.