Peru is having a rough time with flooding from the remnants of last winter's El Niño. From FOX News:
Death toll rises to 72 in Peru rains, flooding, mudslides
The intense rains, overflowing rivers, mudslides and flooding being experienced in the country are the worst seen in in two decades, Peruvian authorities said Saturday, affecting more than half the nation as the death toll since the beginning of the year hits 72.
Prime Minister Fernando Zavala on Saturday updated the number of dead to 72 in comments to local radio station RPP.
The government says 374 people were killed in 1998 during a similar period of massive rains and flooding caused by rains blamed on the El Nino climate pattern.
A bit more:
Even Peru's capital city of Lima, where a desert climate seldom leads to rain, police on Friday had to help hundreds of residents in an outskirt neighborhood cross a flooded road by sending them one-by-one along a rope through choppy waters. The muddy current channeled down the street after a major river overflowed. Some residents left their homes with just a single plastic bag carrying their belongings.
The 1998 event was related to severe weather up here too - 1998-9 was the season that saw the world's greatest recorded snowfall in one season, 1,140 inches (95.0 ft; 29.0 m) at our local mountain: Mt. Baker. You can see the remnants of El Niño at the ENSO website - more at NOAA: What are El Niño and La Niña?
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