Weather

Four million people in central Chile were left without drinking water as torrential rain in the Andean foothills, since Friday, triggered landslides into the Maipo and Mapocho rivers. This led to the fouling of the city’s water supply and forced the closure of the world largest underground copper mine, El Teniente. The capital, Santiago was deluged after the Mapocho River overflowed its banks for the first time in 30 years. The violent storms also caused widespread devastation across Uruguay with seven people killed and leaving more than 2,000  homeless.

Peru continues to struggle with severe weather following the floods and landslides that left one dead and one missing earlier this month. Authorities are now sending the military to help areas affected by severe floods in several parts of the country. Intense rain and damage has also been reported in Puno, Apurímac and Cuzco regions, in south Peru Euronews reports: Scientists blame El Niño, the warm ocean current, for the heavy rains that turned roads into rivers in Arequipa, setting cars adrift in the torrent.

With analysts calling NatGas's glut even bigger than crude's, the following 'chart' has just become the scariest in the world for the energy complex. As Bloomberg warns, if you live in the eastern U.S., it’s almost time to put that snow shovel away and get out the gardening tools, as March temperatures are expected to be considerably higher than expected across the entire US (except Florida, sorry).

A record breaking storm is leaving a trail of destruction in Fiji. Cyclone Winston has killed at least six people and caused widespread damage. The most powerful storm recorded in the Southern Hemisphere has slammed into the islands, flattening villages and displacing populations.

Residents in Fiji have been warned to seek refuge in evacuation centers amid a state of emergency, as one of the strongest storms on record lashes the Pacific island.  Cyclone Winston is a Category 5 hurricane, and deadly wind speeds of up ot 325km per hour have been reported. Aljazeera.com reports: Fights have been suspended and the prime minister has urged people to seek shelter from the storm, expected to be country’s most powerful on record.