Bolivia: La Paz City Is in Emergency Due to Rain

On Sunday night, Mayor Ivan Arias declared the city of La Paz in an emergency situation due to intense rains and river overflows.

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“I held a meeting with Bolivian President Luis Arce to address the critical situation that La Paz is going through due to the rains. I explained to him the magnitude of the challenge we face due to events that have not been recorded for three decades,” he said.

The emergency declaration will allow La Paz City to request support from the Bolivian security forces and access the machinery of the Bolivian Highway Administrator (ABC) and the Corporation of the Armed Forces for National Development (COFADENA).

Immediately, some 3,000 police officers would be mobilized to build gabions to contain the floods by building gabions, Mayor Arias said.

These cages, which are usually filled with rocks or concrete, are used to manage the landscape by containing floods caused by overflowing rivers.

So far, the Arce administration has sent 139.88 tons of humanitarian aid to La Paz to alleviate the adverse situations caused by the intense rainfall. 

The Joint Adverse Event Response Command has mobilized 1,255 troops for municipalities such as Tipuani, Apolo, Guanay, Achocalla, Palca, La Paz, Irupana and Mecapaca.

Since December 2023, the rains have left 20 dead and 3 people missing in Bolivia. The rain storm has directly affected 18,484 families, 4,889 of which were affected.

Currently, Bolivia is experiencing the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which manifests itself most strongly in floods in the northern and central regions of the country, electrical storms in the Altiplano, and drought in some sectors of the Chaco.