By IANS
La Paz : At least 29 people have been killed and more than 21,000 families displaced in heavy rain and flooding in Bolivia, Spanish news agency EFE reported Thursday.
Seven of Bolivia’s nine provinces have been hit by heavy downpour and flooding over the past several weeks, with weather experts attributing the devastating rain to the climatic phenomenon La Niña.
La Niña is a climatic condition opposite to what is known as El Niño and occurs when seawater temperature is more than 0.5 degrees Celsius lower than average. El Niño occurs when seawater temperature goes higher than average.
The national epidemiology director has said 93 cases of mosquito-transmitted dengue fever and another 600 suspected cases have been confirmed nationwide.
President Evo Morales’ government Monday declared a state of emergency due to the heavy rains and flooding, which have caused some $30 million in financial losses and damaged more than 10,000 hectares of crops.
Commenting on the state of the nation’s road network, highway administrator Ramiro Heredia told state-run Patria Nueva radio that three routes in the Amazon region of Beni were totally flooded.
He added that the main highway linking the central and eastern parts of the country has been temporarily repaired after several mudslides.
A UN report said that between January and March 2007, rains caused by the El Niño weather pattern left 56 dead across Bolivia, forced tens of thousands out of their homes and caused losses of $443.3 million, equivalent to four percent of the gross domestic product of the poorest country of South America.