Widespread floods have forced nearly 140,000 people from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil following days of torrential rains that drenched a region where the countries border each other.
Paraguay is the hardest hit with at least 100,000 evacuating, according to the National Emergency Department.
Argentina's state-run news agency Telam reports that 20,000 people suffered the same fate in that nation, while Uruguay's National Emergency System says some 9000 were displaced by rivers that overflowed their banks.
The civil defence department in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul says at least 7000 people had to leave their homes.
"The flooding is caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon," Uruguay Emergency Office Chief Fernando Traversa said.
This year's "El Nino," which sparks global climate extremes, is the worst in more than 15 years, the UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation, said last month.
"Severe droughts and devastating flooding being experienced throughout the tropics and sub-tropical zones bear the hallmarks of this El Nino, which is the strongest in more than 15 years," WMO chief Michel Jarraud said in a statement.
