At least six people have died in northwestern Peru in flooding caused by Cyclone Yaku, Peru’s civil protection agency said on Friday.
“Until now [sexta-feira]there were six deaths,” the agency said, in a message posted on the social network Twitter.
The floods, caused by heavy rains and river overflows, began this week and increased in the last 48 hours, affecting urban and rural areas of the coastal departments of La Libertad, Lambayeque, Piura and Tumbes (north).
Cyclone Yaku, which is located some 500 kilometers from the Peruvian coast, “is a very unusual phenomenon that has caused an increase in rainfall in the north” of the country, the director of Peruvian civil protection, César Sierra, told Radio Exitosa. .
This type of “unorganized cyclone, unlike tropical cyclones”, according to the Peruvian Meteorological Service (Senahmi), is associated with the El Niño climate phenomenon, which causes overheating of the waters of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of South America. .
In a report released later, the head of the Institute of Civil Protection of Peru, Carlos Yáñez, indicated that “until now and since the beginning of the rainy season [há pouco mais de três meses]there were (…) 58 deaths”, without specifying circumstances or dates.
Source: Observadora
