Ecuador officially in Drought

Anyone who has spent a little time in Quito in the past few months - or who has a Facebook friend who lives in Quito - knows that we have been experiencing frequent blackouts. I posted about the infernal apagones recently, at a time when we still thought they would be a temporary measure, but alas, it's nearly February and we are still waiting for rain.

Amidst the tragedies in Haiti, other far less immediate but still dangerous crises are unfolding in the Americas, including torrential rains and flooding in many parts of the Andean highlands and Brazil, which has experienced deadly landslides in the last two to three weeks.

And Ecuador is now officially in the midst of a drought, which is naturally contributing to loss of power generation capabilities in the country's hydroelectric facilities. The greatest devastation created by the drought is centered in Manabí province, but most people in the sierra are also hunkering down for blackouts well into the unforeseeable future, praying for rain.

According to the Quito Electric Company, 40% of Quito went without power for about two hours yesterday.

Just to keep things interesting, Tungurahua volcano was showing increased activity last week.

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