A child stands covered in mud on a street hit by floods in Los Loros. The death toll from heavy rains and flooding that battered Chile in late March reached more than two dozen, with more than 100 people missing.

The freak torrential downpours in the Atacama desert, normally the driest in the world, destroyed homes and bridges, cut off roads, and left thousands stranded as rivers broke their banks and flash floods surged through dry valleys.