The coasts of Peru and Ecuador have been hit for several days by an unusually violent swell, with waves more than four meters high, which left at least one dead and led to the closure of most ports. Peruvians.
• Also read: ‘Environmental emergency’ in Peru after fuel leak in tourist area
• Also read: Ecuador: collision kills at least 16 people
A person who went missing in the coastal town of Barbasquillo, in southwest Ecuador, was found dead Saturday morning, authorities said, who ordered the preventive closure of the town’s beaches.
In Peru, 91 ports out of the country’s 121 have been closed until January 1 and access to beaches is restricted, the National Emergency Operations Center (COEN) announced on its X account.
According to the warning issued Friday by this institution, the phenomenon began on December 25 and will last until December 1is January and gradually affect different areas of the northern, central and southern coast of the country.
Waves reach more than four meters in Peru and more than two meters in Ecuador, according to authorities in both countries.
The town hall of Callao, Peru’s largest port located near the capital Lima, has banned access to all beaches located within its territory and closed the emblematic Grau Square, on the seafront, which is completely flooded by the waves, according to an AFP journalist on site.
“Big problem”
“There is a big problem. These waves are not like the others. And the most affected are the fishermen,” Roberto Carrillo Zavala, mayor of the La Cruz district in the north of the country, who flew over the coast by helicopter with Peruvian Defense Minister Walter Astudillo Chavez, told AFPTV. .
The waves damaged dozens of artisanal fishing boats and businesses located on the seafront, according to images broadcast by the media. The waves also caused flooding in several coastal towns, sending residents fleeing.
AFP
“This swell is generated thousands of kilometers from Peru, in front of the United States […] by a persistent wind on the surface of the ocean that approaches our coasts,” Lieutenant Commander Enrique Varea, head of the hydrographic and navigation services of the Peruvian Navy, explained to the Canal N channel.
According to the Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute of the Navy of Ecuador (Inocar), this natural phenomenon which results in “higher than average” waves are “bottom movements which are characterized by continuous and long-lasting waves , generated by distant storms that move along the Pacific Ocean until they reach our coast.
Climate change “is causing this kind of abnormal swell,” Larry Linch, head of civil protection for the Callao municipality, told AFP, adding that strong winds pushed toward the Peruvian coast have caused the tide to rise further in the region.
