More than 12,000 cubic meters of water per second were pouring over the Iguazú Falls in Misiones on Monday, a volume roughly nine times the normal rate, according to Clarin.com. The surge prompted Argentine authorities to activate a safety protocol on their side of the falls.
Clarin.com links the swollen flow to heavy rainfall across the Triple Frontera region and to high water levels along the Iguazú River.
Why it matters
The Iguazú spike is one piece of a much wider pattern of extreme weather across South America that Clarin.com attributes to El Niño. The same reporting describes flooding in Argentina's Litoral region, a deadly snow avalanche at a Chilean copper mine, and more than 17,000 people affected by months of rain in Ecuador.
Taken together, the events show how a single climate pattern can produce different hazards — river flooding, landslides and mountain snow — across a continent at the same time.
Evacuations along the Uruguay and Paraná rivers
In Concordia, in the province of Entre Ríos, and in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes, families have already been moved to assistance centers as water levels rise, Clarin.com reports.
The Yacyretá dam authority warned that weekend rainfall, combined with releases from hydroelectric plants upstream, will push the Paraná River higher in the coming days. Downstream of the Salto Grande dam, communities are on alert over the level the Uruguay River is expected to reach within hours.
Chile: two dead in a mine avalanche
Two workers died after being buried by a snow avalanche at El Teniente, the open-pit copper mine operated by Chile's state-owned Codelco, in the O'Higgins region. According to Clarin.com, the victims were clearing accumulated snow in the area when the avalanche struck. A third worker was rescued and taken to a hospital.
The accident came four days after a mud and rock flow swept away vehicles and homes in the Las Condes district of Santiago. Clarin.com attributes that disaster to intense rain in the foothills zone, which it ties to El Niño in Chile.
Ecuador: 17,056 people affected since late August
Ecuador's National Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR) reported on Sunday that 17,056 people have been affected by rains since August 29, the date the country declared a red alert. The agency had previously reported one death linked to the rains.
The SNGR counted more than 326 adverse weather events affecting, to varying degrees, 22 of the country's 24 provinces. Flooding was the most common type of event at 54.91 percent, followed by landslides at 20.25 percent, according to the agency's figures as reported by Clarin.com.
The provinces with the greatest impact on people were the coastal regions of Esmeraldas, Guayas and Manabí, along with Los Ríos, the Amazonian province of Orellana, and the Andean provinces of Imbabura and Pichincha.
What to watch
River levels below the Yacyretá and Salto Grande dams in the days ahead, and whether Ecuador's red alert is extended or lifted.
