One person was killed in Ecuador and ports across Peru were closed as waves up to 13 feet high battered the region, officials said Saturday.
Local authorities said many beaches in central and northern Peru’s coastline were closed to prevent danger to human life.
Local media footage showed the waves submerging piers and public squares, forcing residents to seek higher ground.
Nicholas Landa Tami/AFP via Getty Images
Neighboring Ecuador’s National Emergency Management Secretariat said the body had been recovered in the coastal city of Manta.
“The Manta Fire Department reported that the body of a missing person was found in the Barbasquillo area at 6 a.m.,” the agency announced on social media.
Peru has closed 91 of its 121 ports until January 1, the National Emergency Operations Center wrote on social media.
The city of Callao, near the capital Lima and the country’s main port, closed some beaches and banned tourists and fishing boats.
“These waves are occurring off the coast of the United States, thousands of kilometers from Peru,” Navy Capt. Enrique Vallea told Channel N television.
“They are waves generated by sustained winds on the ocean surface approaching our coasts,” he said.
Dozens of small fishing boats and businesses near the sea were affected, footage shown on television and social networks showed.
