A worker unloads humanitarian aid for flood victims from a plane of the Colombian Air Force in Lima, Peru, on March 20, 2017. Peru's National Emergency Operations Center (COEN) confirmed on Monday that 75 people have died since December from floods and landslides caused by the El Niño phenomenon, along with 263 injured and 30 more missing. (Xinhua/Dante Zegarra/ANDINA)
LIMA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Peru's National Emergency Operations Center (COEN) confirmed Monday that 75 people have died since December from floods and landslides caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, along with 263 injured and 30 more missing.
In a statement, COEN said that, while El Niño began weakly in December, it has grown in intensity since February, and has affected 627,048 people in 11 regions, including driving 100,169 people away from their homes.
The worst hit parts are the northeastern areas of Tumbres, Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad and Ancash, Lima in the center of the country and the southern departments of Ica and Arequipa.
COEN, which monitors the situation nationally, added that 1,109 kilometers of roads have been destroyed and 3,849 kilometers have been affected.
Furthermore, 159 bridges have collapsed, 274 more have been damaged and 33 highway are closed, blocked or restricted to traffic.
10,642 houses have collapsed, 12,126 have been declared unusable and 134,290 have been otherwise affected.
El Niño has heated the Pacific Ocean's surface temperature to 29 degrees Celsius, or between five and seven degrees hotter than normal for this time of year.
