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WORLD NEWS Monday 20 March 2017

Death toll rises to 72 in Peru rains, flooding, mudslides

FRANKLIN BRICENO declared an emergency.
Associated Press “The prices for lemons
LIMA, Peru (AP) — The in- have gone up, as well as
tense rains, overflowing for potatoes and cook-
rivers, mudslides and flood- ing oil,” said Sara Arevalo,
ing being experienced in a mother of five who was
the country are the worst shopping at a market in
seen in two decades, Pe- northern Lima.
ruvian authorities said this The government has ac-
weekend, affecting more knowledged that prices
than half the nation as the have shot up some 5 per-
death toll since the begin- cent because of the flood-
ning of the year hit 72. ing.
The highly unusual rains fol- In the Lambayeque re-
low a series of storms that gion, 22 inmates at a juve-
have struck hard along Pe- nile detention center took
ru’s northern coast, with vo- advantage of the rains to
racious waters inundating escape.
hospitals and leaving some And in the city of Trujillo,
small villages isolated. rains flooded a cemetery
The storms are being with the waters carrying
caused by a warming of bones through the streets.
the surface waters in the Even Peru’s capital city of
Pacific Ocean and are ex- Lima, where a desert cli- A group of people, stranded in flood waters, hold onto a rope as they wade through flood waters
pected to continue for an- mate seldom leads to rain, to safety in Lima, Peru. Intense rains and mudslides have wrought havoc around the Andean na-
other two weeks. police on Friday had to tion and caught residents in Lima, a desert city of 10 million where it almost never rains, by surprise.
Peru’s government said help hundreds of residents (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
that 374 people were killed in an outskirt neighbor-
in 1998 during a similar pe- hood cross a flooded road current channeled down left their homes with just a The presidents of Chile, Bo-
riod of massive rains and by sending them one-by- the street after a major river single plastic bag carrying livia and Venezuela offered
flooding caused by rains one along a rope through overflowed. Some residents their belongings. to send help to Peru.q
blamed on the El Nino cli- choppy waters. The muddy
mate pattern.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Brazil city on edge after man dies from yellow fever
Fernando Zavala updated
the number of dead from YESICA FISCH treatment to a hospital in Tais da Silva Almeida, a The vaccinations come as
the latest flooding to 72. Associated Press the city of Rio de Janeiro, mother of two who arrived cases continue to be con-
The rains have over- CASIMIRO DE ABREU, Brazil where he is recovering. Friday to get vaccinated. firmed in several areas na-
whelmed the drainage sys- (AP) — This small city in the Authorities are investigat- “If adults can’t deal with tionwide.
tem in the cities along Pe- state of Rio de Janeiro is ing possible cases involving the illness, imagine the chil- Brazil’s Health Ministry says
ru’s Pacific coast and the on high alert after authori- four relatives of Santos, in- dren.” that at least 424 people
health ministry has started ties confirmed the death of cluding a 13-year-old and Yellow fever is transmitted have been infected with
fumigating around the one man by yellow fever a 9-year-old. by mosquito and causes yellow fever in the largest
pools of water that have and said they were inves- In the city center and rural fever, body aches, vomit- outbreak the country has
formed in the streets to kill tigating several other pos- areas of Casimiro de Abreu, ing and sometimes jaun- seen in years.
mosquitoes that carry dis- sible cases. about 93 miles (150 kilome- dice. Rio de Janeiro’s state Of those, 137 have died,
eases like dengue. Health authorities this ters) from Rio de Janeiro, a Health Department has and more than 900 other
Lima has been without wa- weekend confirmed that large tent has been set up announced plans to vac- cases are under investi-
ter service since the be- 38-year-old Watila San- to vaccinate people. Au- cinate its entire population gation. The vast major-
ginning of the week. The tos died from the illness on thorities say around 30,000 as a preventative measure. ity of confirmed cases and
government has deployed March 11. of the city’s 42,000 people It says it will need 12 million deaths have been in the
the armed forces to help A neighbor of Santos, Ales- have been vaccinated in doses to reach a 90 per- southeastern state of Minas
police control public order sandro Valenca Couto, recent days. cent vaccination rate by Gerais, which borders the
in the 811 cities that have was infected and sent for “I’m really scared,” said year’s end. state of Rio de Janeiro.q