(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-26 10:25

LIMA -- Floods have killed at least eight people and left 5,600 families homeless since mid-December due to heavy rains, Bolivian Civil Defense authorities said on Tuesday, according to news reaching here.

Five of the dead were in Cochabamba, two in Potosi and one in La Paz, director of the nation's Civil Defense Authority Gen. Johnny Patzi said.

There were 3,600 families homeless in Chapare, a coca growing area in Cochabamba, he said, adding that rivers had flooded after heavy rains in several parts of the country.