RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At least eight people have died due to the rains and the flooding of some rivers that these days have seven of the nine regions of Bolivia on alert, while 1,667 families have been affected and some 1,050 hectares of crops have been affected, official sources said Tuesday (21.12.2021).
Seven of Bolivia’s nine departments have declared “orange alert” due to rains and rising rivers. In contrast, at least 18 municipalities in the departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, and Tarija have suffered damages, informed today the vice-minister of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Bolivia
According to the Water Channelling and Regularization Service of the Piraí River (Searpi), some points of the Piraí River, which passes near Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s largest city, the flow “registered an extraordinary flood of up to five meters in height”.
OVERFLOWING OF BASINS
Civil Defense identified the tropical regions of Cochabamba and the north of Santa Cruz as the most prone to flooding.
Meanwhile, in cities such as La Paz, the rains have caused the overflowing of urban basins and the risk of landslides or the collapse of some houses built in risky areas on the hills.
The rainy season begins in November in Bolivia, both in high areas such as the mountain range and the altiplano and in the lowlands, which causes the flow of rivers to increase progressively, and emergencies arise due to the overflowing of riverbeds in several regions.