Four days of heavy rain in Chile ‘s Atacama Desert have enforced hundreds from their homes as swollen rivers broke their banks and loosened soil gave way to a second landslide in less than a week.

The settlements in the world’s driest desert remain on alert as the usually slow moving rivers furiously churn their way down the highland plateau to the Pacific Ocean.

Some local towns have seen as much as two meters of flooding and some 800 residents have been forced from their homes.

A resident of the town of Toconao, stated that, “It is all ruined, just like you can see. Everything is lost; I have to start all over again”.