QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) – An unusually long, intense and destructive rainy season in Ecuador has left 52 people dead and more than 100 injured, officials there said Saturday.
In addition, more than 27,000 people were affected by flooding, landslides and building collapses over the past six months, said the National Risk Management Service.
Every one of Ecuador’s 24 provinces was affected — with the exception of the Galapagos archipelago, 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) off the coast, the service said.
It said exceptionally strong and prolonged downpours had damaged or destroyed more than 13,000 acres (5,400 hectares) of farmland, as well as 6,240 homes, schools or health clinics.
A January 31 flood and landslide in capital city Quito, caused by the most torrential rainfall seen in two decades, left 28 people dead and 52 others injured.
Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain around the world because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
© Agence France-Presse