IN a tragic turn of events, the severe weather in South America countries, resulted in the deaths of 3 people and widespread destruction.
Various Latin American countries experienced severe devastation this week, officials pointed to the El Niño weather phenomenon, and it has struck Paraguay particularly hard.
All three fatalities, including an 11-year-old girl and two elderly individuals, aged 70 and 84, resulted from the collapse of homes in two towns in Paraguay, a country that has been battered by relentless downpours accompanied by tornadoes and rainstorms.
Some 30,000 people in Paraguay have been affected by these devastating storms, with more than 600 families evacuated in Ayolas along the banks of the Parana River.
The latest El Niño occurrence follows a particularly harsh spell of La Niña, which caused the opposite weather effects and led to a historic drought in the south of the South American continent earlier this year, resulting in crop failures and drinking water shortages.
In Brazil, heavy rains led to flooding and landslides in the southern states of Parana and Santa Catarina this week, although, thankfully, there were no fatalities.
Argentina’s naval hydrography service has also issued warnings about high water levels in the River Plate, which it shares with Uruguay.
The world-famous Iguazu Falls, located at Iguazu National Park on the border between Brazil and Argentina, remained closed on Wednesday due to the heavy flooding of the Iguazu River. Reports say more than 60 footbridges, including those leading to the famous Devil’s Throat waterfall, have been destroyed by the overflowing waters.
Meanwhile, in Uruguay, nearly 3,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to flooding in the country’s north.