- Title: Heavy floods batter Bolivia
- Date: 9th January 2017
- Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (JANUARY 8, 2017) (REUTERS) HEAVY MACHINERY LIFTING A HUGE ROCK WHICH FELL ON A MAIN AVENUE IN THE CENTRE OF LA PAZ
- Embargoed: 24th January 2017 16:53
- Keywords: Bolivia storms weather rain
- Location: ORURO, SUCRE, POTOSI AND LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- City: ORURO, SUCRE, POTOSI AND LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- Country: Bolivia
- Topics: Environment,Weather
- Reuters ID: LVA0025YD16IR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Bolivia continues to suffer the effects of heavy flooding throughout the country, with the start of the rainy season.
The River Paria in the city of Oruro burst its banks for the second day running on Sunday (January 8), affecting some 300 local families and their homes, according to local government figures.
"The problem with flooding in the city of Oruro is a structural problem in the Paria river," said Oruro governor, Victor Hugo Vazquez.
"When the water level tips over on the left-hand side, there are floods in the northern part of the city. When the water level tips over on the right-hand side there are floods in the communities in the Soracachi municipality," Vazquez added.
Local authorities provided shelters for those affected as the fire service worked to contain the damage. Residents in the city of Sucre, however, where trees were uprooted and crops flooded, said they felt they had been abandoned.
"This is a result of the rains, the houses have been flooded, we feel we have been left alone, as if there were no authorities," said a resident in Sucre.
Roads were affected in Potosi, where heavy machinery worked to lift rocks off the route and vehicles traipsed through the mud.
In the capital La Paz, damage was inflicted upon a building considered cultural patrimony, in the Murillo Square where the government buildings are located.
Several of the zones affected were struck by severe drought in previous months as the country undergoes increasingly erratic weather patterns. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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