At least six people have died in heavy flooding across the Andean nation of Bolivia, where days of rain have left thousands of people homeless, fields underwater and houses destroyed.
One man died when he was dragged away by a swollen river and five people were killed in road accidents caused by the rain, said the mayor of Cotagaita in the southern Potosi department.
After days of heavy rain, the flooding was reported in areas around Zacuiba, Camiri and Villamontes in Gran Chaco province.
Bolivia's Deputy Minister of Civil Defence, Carlos Eduardo Brú, said that
at least 50,000 people in seven of the country's nine departments have been left homeless. The hardest-hit areas are near the southern border with Paraguay and Argentina.
Rural and Land Development Minister Cesar Cacarico said the flooding has also damaged 33,000 fields.
During a visit to the town of Tupiza in Potosi department, President Evo Morales promised to help victims rebuild and to provide farmers with seeds.
Comment: A day earlier in the same country a woman and her ox were also killed by lightning while in neighbouring South Africa also on the 2nd of February, a man who was clinicallly dead for 20 minutes after being hit is now recovering: