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Heavy rainfall in Peru costs teenage girl her life

Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

As the rainy season continues to get stronger in some of Peru's regions, more people are losing their lives because of flooding, landslides and mudslides.

Attempting to cross a river that was larger than usual because of heavy rainfall, a 15-year-old girl lost her life after she was dragged by its current.

It was reported that she was in the Limean district of Chosica, just 47 kilometers (29 miles) east of metropolitan Lima.

Even though police did not arrive in time to help the teenager, they were able to retrieve her body from an islet on the Rimac River.

Despite precautions taken by police, one of the officers had to be rescued himself after losing his balance and being knocked down by the strong current.

Furthermore, houses in the areas of Pedregal, Quirio and La Libertad are waterlogged. Aside from the loss of homes because of landslides, town streets have been completely flooded and highways are blocked.

Authorities have placed the district of Chosica on alert until the torrential rain stops and it is verified that waterlogged homes will not be a danger to their inhabitants.

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# Lisa says :
18 February, 2009 [ 21:40 ]

I am very sad about the girl. I grew up in Chosica in the 60's. Is not the Chosica I use to be, it was nice, clean and quiet. I went there three years ago and I could hardly recognize  Chosica. Sorry, that is besides the point. About the girls it is a real tragedy, a young life that goes so early like a little bird.

# Splaktar says :
6 March, 2009 [ 11:13 ]

"Attempting to cross a river that was larger than usual because of heavy rainfall, a 15-year-old girl lost her life after she was dragged by its current."

From what I can read here, the headline of this article appears to be misleading.  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say "Lack of footbridges costs teenage girl her life" or "Teenage girl attempts to cross rushing river but does not survive".  Obviously she had a choice about crossing the river as well as where to do it.  There is no information here about how close the nearest bridge was, so who knows.

But it certainly does not seem appropriate to blame it on the rain.

Perhaps there needs to be more education in the schools and signage along the rivers to prevent this tragedy from happening again.

# Lisa says :
6 March, 2009 [ 13:50 ]

Good comment Splaktar.

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