El Nino weather 'could be as bad as 1998', says Nasa

The US space agency NASA has warned that the effects of the current El Nino weather phenomenon could be as bad as those of 1998, the strongest on record.

This year's El Nino has been linked to the worst floods seen in 50 years in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

The floods there have forced more than 150 thousand people from their homes, with more than 100 thousand of the victims from the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion alone. 

The phenomenon sees warm waters of the central Pacific expand eastwards towards North and South America.

El Nino, which occurs every two to seven years, usually peaks late in the calendar year, although the effects can persist well into the following spring and last up to 12 months.

NASA said the current El Nino "shows no signs of waning", based on the latest satellite images of the Pacific Ocean which bears "a striking resemblance" to that of December, 1997.

BBC