BOLIVIA: Cold snap causing a spike in illness frozen crops and problems on country's highways

Record ID: 333070

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Cold snap causing a spike in illness frozen crops and problems on country's highways
  • Date: 22nd July 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING BABY YOUNG PATIENT WAITING
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVAXY3D1OZTOZ9NJP3VQHTDYEW7
  • Story Text: A cold air mass continued to sit over Bolivia on Wednesday (July 21), bringing freezing temperatures and causing a rise in illnesses and problems on the country's highway.
    People in the La Paz-suburb of El Alto were bundled up against the frigid temperatures on Wednesday. Local websites attributed 22 deaths to cold snap, with people dying from hypothermia, intoxication from heaters and traffic accidents.
    Vendors sold hot drinks in the streets as El Alto resident Franklyn Amago explained temperatures were lower than usual.
    "It's usually cold here in El Alto, but not this cold. This last week temperatures have dropped a lot."
    Meanwhile in eastern Amazon region, Bolivia's agricultural heartland, crops and cattle suffered. The province of Tarija reportedly lost all its crops and around 90 percent of its cattle.
    At the national meteorological center, Marisol Portugal pointed to the cold mass that is spreading the frigid weather even into the normally temperate Amazon lowlands.
    "In the valley areas, like Tarija, it's colder than it has been in 20 years, with temperatures down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-9.2 degrees Celsius)," Portugal said.
    At the La Paz bus station, concerned travelers asked transportation officials about conditions on roadways as snow fell in many parts of the country.
    Reynaldo Cosio, a top transport official, said parts a major highway in southern Bolivia are closed off.
    "This season has been bad. It's snowed almost everywhere. There are two parts of the Potosi-Villazon highway that are cut and vehicles aren't permitted," he said.
    Meanwhile, a children's hospital in La Paz was packed with hacking children. A spike in respiratory illnesses has doctors scrambling to try to treat hundreds of patients.
    Dr. Adalid Zamora said the hospital is forced to improvise to treat everyone.
    "The specialty rooms are already full. Other rooms are being used to treat patients," he said.
    Rene Barrientos, the head of infectious disease at the hospital, is already talking about the possibility of epidemic.
    "There's been a high number of serious respiratory illnesses. Right now, we are the border of putting out an alert, with a good chance of entering an epidemic. During the season, we've reported 195,000 cases of serious respiratory illnesses," he said.
    Temperatures are predicted to rise in the coming days, with another, milder cold front arriving on Monday of next week.
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