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Last Updated: Friday February 23 2007 14:27 GMT

Heavy flooding strikes Bolivia

Child in floods in Bolivia

An area the size of the UK is under water after nearly three months of heavy rain in Bolivia.

Aid is starting to arrive in the South American country, although 35 people have already died, and thousands of homes have been destroyed.

Lots of people have been forced to leave their homes, and there are fears the rain could get worse.

It's thought the storms have been caused by a weather system called El Nino, which happens every few years.

El Nino is caused by warmer than usual water in parts of the Pacific Ocean, and causes unusually hot and stormy weather.

But this year's El Nino may have been made worse by global warming.

Aid effort

Countries including the United States, Italy, Venezuela, Peru and Argentina are all sending aid to Bolivia.

But because lots of the roads in Bolivia have been damaged, it's proving hard to get the aid to people who need it.



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