Bolivia on alert as destructive rains continue

A total of 289 Bolivian municipalities, out of 335 in the entire country, were on alert as of Monday as heavy rains battered several departments.

Authorities have warned that the current rainy season (from November to March) is already surpassing the previous one in terms of casualties and infrastructure damage.

Ten municipalities are on red alert, with the rest on orange alert, according to national meteorology agency Senamhi.

La Paz department was the worst affected after the latest rains, where three people died following a landslide in Achocalla municipality that left another 28 people injured and damaged over 30 homes, state news agency ABI reported. 

The death toll has now reached 33 in the current rainy season, compared with four in the last one, deputy civil defense minister Juan Carlos Calvimontes was reported as saying by daily La Razón.

However, he also noted that municipalities have been slower in issuing disaster declarations, with only five mayors doing so, compared with 28 a year ago.

Calvimontes warned that capital La Paz is especially vulnerable due to its geography and cautioned that “a large-scale disaster” could hit the city at any minute. He also accused city mayor Iván Arias of downplaying the current problems for political reasons.

Other departments have reported serious floods due to rivers bursting their banks, while highway agency ABC stated that a number of roads across the country were impassable due to landslides or water damage.

The central government has already announced that humanitarian aid will be distributed to some of the worst-affected areas.