Abnormally high ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean have been blamed for one of Peru’s worst floods in recent memory, which killed 12 people, destroyed homes and swept away trucks and buses along the usually arid seaboard.

The disaster – which came after a period of severe drought – caught the authorities by surprise and fuelled criticism that the country is ill-prepared for the growing challenges of climate change. Over the past three days, the downpour has burst river banks, created mudslides, collapsed bridges, closed roads and forced school suspensions in swaths of the west and north of the country. Rains continued to lash the northern Piura region where streets remained flooded in the regional capital and homes had been washed away in poorer neighbourhoods.(the guardian)…[+]