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South America: Floods and Landslides - Dec 2016

Disaster description

Colombia

Strong rains caused flooding and landslides in Cali. According to a preliminary report of the emergency, 6 deaths due to a landslide in the neighborhood of the Siloe were reported on 1 December. (PAHO/WHO, 2 Dec 2016)
As a result of the early January rains, about 11,125 people are affected by flooded rivers in the municipalities of Tumaco, Barbacoas, Roberto Payán and Magüi Payán in Nariño. (OCHA, 10 Jan 2017)
As of 7 February, 333 people, consisting approximately of 77 families and 33 students, have been affected by heavy floods and 8 flooded rivers in Nariño, a situation which affected 8 of the department's municipalities. Reports show a total of 65 damaged houses as well as 5 that were destroyed. (OCHA, 7 Feb 2017)
On the night of 31 March 2017, increased rainfall caused the Mocoa, Sangoyaco and Mulata Rivers to overflow, which in turn generated a mudslide in the municipality of Mocoa, capital of the department of Putumayo...[T]he Colombian government decided to declare an economic and social emergency. (IFRC, 7 Apr 2017)
See Colombia: Mudslides - Mar 2017 for the updates on this disaster.
As of 29 June, OCHA reported that the intense rains of recent days triggered sudden surges, overflowing rivers, and increased levels of the Sinú and San Jorge rivers, affecting approximately 25,000 people in different municipalities of the department. Due to the continuation and persistence of the rains, the number of people affected is expected to increase. The municipality of San Bernardo del Viento has been one of the most affected with a total of 2,187 families/10,935 people affected in rural and urban areas, also reporting the loss of 189 hectares of bread crops. (OCHA, 29 Jun 2017)
As of mid-July, continuous rains have increased the levels of the rivers Sinú and San Jorge in Córdoba, generating new affectations in approximately 15,000 people, in six municipalities of the department. This situation increased to 43,000 the total number of people with needs since the end of June. The total number of people affected could increase, as the red alert of IDEAM persists for these rivers. More than 14,000 people (2,818 families) and about 1,081 agricultural hectares have been reported as affected. There is also damage in 31 educational establishments causing access limitations to at least 2,873 students. (OCHA, 18 Jul 2017)

Argentina

A storm surge on 26 December caused flooding and heavy damage in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Rosario. As of January 2017, more than 10 towns in Santa Fe were still flooded. (La Nación, 4 Jan 2017)
As of 17 January, approximately 800 people suffered total property losses in Arroyo Seco, one of the towns hardest hit by the storm over the weekend in the province of Santa Fe. The sports community center Los Tiburones is housing around 234 evacuees. (PAHO, 17 Jan 2017)
The worsening of already unstable meteorological conditions caused a significant increase in rainfall in the first weeks of April of this year, affecting 15 provinces and 33,482 people across the country and causing considerable losses and damages. This increase gradually began the last week of March. On 30 March, the governor of the province of Chubut declared a 120-day weather emergency because of the impact suffered in the last week of March. However, a new storm packing 45- to 50-kph winds hit Comodoro Rivadavia on 7 April, dumping almost 100 millimetres of rain over a period of 24 hours, killing two people and directly and indirectly affecting 100,000 others. Twelve additional collective centres had to be opened - for a total of 24 - which are primarily managed by neighbourhood point persons. According to official province government estimates, some 3000 people had to be evacuated, in addition to the more than 5000 others across the province who were forced to self-evacuate.
To 8 April, a total of 3000 people have been evacuated because of this week's events, which has caused variations in the number of people housed in the collective centres mentioned above. (IFRC, 19 Apr 2017)
On 26 April, the Gov't of Argentina declared water emergency as per the recent meteorological conditions for 180 days for the provinces Catamarca, Corrientes, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Misiones, Chubut, Tucumán, Río Negro, La Pampa, Salta and Jujuy. (Gov't of Argentina, 26 Apr 2017)
As of 12 June, more than 2,800 people had to be evacuated from Entre Rios Province due to the flooded Uruguay river. (Gov't of Argentina, 12 Jun 2017)

Peru

See Peru: Floods and Landslides - Feb 2017

Uruguay

159 people remain displaced throughout Uruguay due to recent weather events. Of this total 70 were officially evacuated and were 89 self-evacuated. The affected departments are Cerro Largo, Tacuarembó y Treinta and Tres. The National Emergency System through the Departmental Emergency Committees (CDE) of Cerro Largo, Tacuarembó and Treinta y Tres are coordinating response actions in the respective departments. (Gov't of Uruguay, 14 Aug 2017)

Paraguay

Heavy rains and landslides in the San Pedro district affected some 130 families. Government authorities delivered food and NFIs. (Gov’t of Paraguay, 19 Dec 2016)

Brazil

The northern state of Amazonas, Eirunepé and Itamarati by the Juruá river declared the state of emergency due to the floods on 9 March. They are now set to receive humanitarian help from the federal and state governments. At least 3,200 families were affected.(Gov't of Brazil, 9 Mar 2017)
In the north-eastern region of Brazil, record levels of accumulated rainfall were registered between 21 and 27 May. This heavy precipitation has produced landslides, flooding and damage to public infrastructure and homes in Alagoas and Pernambuco.(IFRC, 14 Jun 2017)

Bolivia

The Government declared a state of emergency on 30 December for the mining region of Centro Caracoles, as floods affected Villa Carmen, Pongo and parts of Quime. (Gov’t of Bolivia, 30 Dec 2016) On 7 January, all of Quime was declared in state of emergency and 70 families were without basic services. (RedHum, 5 Jan 2017)

Chile

As of late February, landslides around the capital of Santiago contaminated a major river and cut off the drinking water supply to around 4 million people. Officials have said that at least 3 people have died in the floods. (Deutsche Welle, 27 Feb 2017)

Guyana

The lives of over 3,000 hinterland residents have been significantly affected as a result of the massive flooding which struck several lowland communities in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). The damage has been severe to the extent where the school in Itabac was washed away and has since been rendered unstable. Some 3,274 persons have been affected in Region 8. However, the full impact of the flood in Region 7 is still being assessed. (Redhum, 24 May 2017)

Suriname

After heavy rains in late February, the communities of South (Tepu, Kwama) – Upper Marowijne; Boven Suriname-around Brokopondo Lake (Atjoni), Lawa Tapanahony have been affected. Approximately 6,000-8,000 people are displaced and/or vulnerable, including migrants. The flood waters may have affected water supply and other public infrastructure, which has caused community members from Marowijne to seek shelter in French Guyana. (PAHO, 27 Feb 2017)

Ecuador

Portoviejo authorities declared a state of emergency on 10 February due to the rains which have affected at least 78 areas of the canton. The most affected are: Picoazá, San Pablo, San Alejo, Fátima. It was indicated that this declaration implies the mobilization of resources and personnel to attend the affected areas in Portoviejo. (PAHO, 10 Feb 2017)

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