The United Nations is rushing food and other aid to 40,000 victims of severe floods and landslides in Bolivia.
U.N. experts say major rivers, including the Rio Grande and the Pilcomayo, have overflowed, creating a disaster in seven Bolivian regions. Officials are evacuating people in the path of danger in two other areas.
The Bolivian government has declared a state of emergency. The floods and landslides have cut off major roads and isolated a number of rural communities.
Bolivia's rainy season lasts from November to March. Forecasters predict that the exceptionally heavy rain will continue through February.
Weather experts blame this year's unusually bad weather on the El Nino phenomenon, which causes rain and floods in some places and drought and warm temperatures elsewhere.
