El agua entró a las viviendas, dañó muebles y electrodomésticos, cubrió carreteras y, en algunos sectores rurales, tuvo fuerza suficiente para llevarse casas completas. Las lluvias que afectan a la provincia de Esmeraldas, en el norte de Ecuador, dejaron hasta este lunes 5 de octubre más de 9.700 personas afectadas o damnificadas y llevaron a tres cantones a adoptar declaratorias de emergencia.

Esmeraldas, Muisne y Eloy Alfaro se encuentran entre los territorios golpeados por las crecidas de los ríos durante los últimos días. Los problemas, sin embargo, no se limitan a esos cantones: también se registraron eventos relacionados con las precipitaciones en San Lorenzo, Quinindé y Atacames.

El balance acumulado de la Secretaría Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos (SNGR) permite dimensionar el impacto. Desde el 29 de agosto se contabilizaron 53 eventos adversos en los siete cantones de la provincia. Los registros oficiales incluyen 9.536 personas afectadas y 204 damnificadas, además de 2.424 familias afectadas y 113 que perdieron las condiciones necesarias para permanecer en sus hogares.

Los daños alcanzaron al menos 2.508 viviendas. Durante el periodo de mayor intensidad de las precipitaciones, siete cuerpos hídricos llegaron a desbordarse y otros trece mostraron tendencia al aumento de sus niveles.

Muisne presenta uno de los cuadros más complejos. Más de 800 familias fueron afectadas y cuatro viviendas terminaron arrastradas por las corrientes, mientras otras cuatro fueron declaradas inhabitables por el peligro de colapso.

Las crecidas alcanzaron a poblaciones de San José de Chamanga, Salima y San Gregorio. Los ríos Muisne, Salima, Repartidero y Sucio estuvieron entre los cauces que salieron de sus márgenes. En las comunidades inundadas, las pérdidas incluyen enseres domésticos, alimentos, cultivos y otros medios de subsistencia.

Más al norte, la emergencia alcanzó a poblaciones asentadas alrededor de las cuencas de los ríos Ónzole, Cayapas y Santiago, en Eloy Alfaro. Gualpí, Colón, Capulí, Santo Domingo, Zancudo, Arenales, Pintor, Loma Linda y San Agustín figuran entre las comunidades donde se reportaron afectaciones. Las autoridades identificaron daños tanto en viviendas como en sembríos y conexiones terrestres.

El avance del agua también llegó a la capital provincial. Durante el fin de semana, el río Esmeraldas superó el umbral de alerta roja y provocó inundaciones en la isla Luis Vargas Torres, ubicada frente a la ciudad de Esmeraldas y donde residen alrededor de 600 familias.

En algunas casas, el nivel del agua llegó a unos 80 centímetros. Habitantes del sector perdieron muebles, electrodomésticos, ropa, alimentos y mercadería. La emergencia llevó además a organizar cocinas comunitarias para las familias que quedaron temporalmente imposibilitadas de preparar sus propios alimentos.

El Comité de Operaciones de Emergencia del cantón Esmeraldas formalizó el sábado 4 de octubre la declaratoria de emergencia. La decisión permitirá movilizar recursos para atender a los sectores perjudicados y avanzar en intervenciones consideradas urgentes, entre ellas trabajos relacionados con la cuenca baja de los ríos Esmeraldas y Teaone.

La respuesta incluye la distribución de alimentos, artículos de higiene y limpieza, implementos para dormir y recipientes para almacenar agua. También fue habilitado un alojamiento temporal en la Unidad Educativa Margarita Cortés, en la ciudad de Esmeraldas.

La intensidad de la emergencia comenzó a disminuir en algunos puntos conforme descendieron los caudales. Sin embargo, el monitoreo disponible para este lunes mantenía al río Esmeraldas desbordado en el sector de la isla Luis Vargas Torres.

Las autoridades provinciales continuaban evaluando la evolución de las lluvias y los informes remitidos por los gobiernos locales para determinar si la emergencia debe extenderse a toda Esmeraldas. La provincia concentra, hasta ahora, el mayor número de personas afectadas por el actual periodo de precipitaciones en Ecuador.

corresponsal:Desde Quito

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Iran has promoted a new system encouraging citizens to report information about Iranians living abroad, effectively crowdsourcing surveillance of the diaspora through a website and messaging platforms including Telegram, according to Iranian media reports and an Iranian official source who confirmed the program to Fox News Digital.

Advertisement

The platform, known as Alaj — Persian for «remedy» or «cure» — asks users to provide information on people overseas whom it accuses of acting against Iran’s national interests or security. Iran International reported that tips could be submitted through the Alaj website, a Telegram bot and Iran’s Bale messaging service. The outlet reported that Iranian state television and the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars News Agency also promoted the initiative.

An Iranian official source confirmed to Fox News Digital that Alaj and the Telegram chatbot were established as a new system through which certain individuals could report information about Iranians living abroad. The source said the website was subsequently taken down after the project drew significant criticism inside Iran.

IRAN ALLEGEDLY USED SOCCER CLUBS TO SPY ON CITIZENS, OPPOSITION GROUP URGES FIFA BAN REGIME BEFORE WORLD CUP

Advertisement

Iranian members of the diaspora, activists, gathered in front of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin during the ‘United Against Executions in Iran’ protest on January 27, 2024. Organized by the Echo Iran group, this protest condemned the increase in death sentences by the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. (Echo Iran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The website did go offline shortly after its public rollout, although the reason for its suspension remains disputed.

Iran International reported that Alaj claimed to have identified and monitored 1,600 people, including roughly 600 identified through reports submitted by members of the public. Those numbers have not been independently verified. The platform published names and photographs of Iranians abroad and, in some cases, national identification numbers, dates of birth and fathers’ names, according to the outlet.

Advertisement

For Iranian-American journalist and foreign policy analyst Lisa Daftari, the most consequential element is not simply that Tehran is collecting information, but that it is asking Iranians to report on one another.

«Even if it’s just the perception that other Iranians can report you or can get you in trouble or that this app exists, it makes a lot of people fearful,» Daftari told Fox News Digital. «You’ll think twice before going to that next protest.»

‘KEEP A LOW PROFILE’: STATE DEPARTMENT WARNS AMERICANS OVERSEAS THEY COULD BE TARGETED

Advertisement

Protesters supporting regime change in Iran hold a rally in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2026, days after U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sparked retaliatory missile and drone attacks by Iran. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Daftari said the fear is particularly acute for members of the Iranian diaspora who still have relatives inside the country.

«Now your face could be captured, you can get in trouble,» she said. «If you have family in Iran, they can get into trouble.»

Daftari described the approach as a digital extension of a much older system of control, arguing that Iran’s clerical establishment has spent decades creating uncertainty over whether neighbors, colleagues or acquaintances might report one another to authorities.

Advertisement

«Now the regime wants to take this show on the road and do that here, here in the West,» Daftari said. «They want to intimidate people. And it works.»

SECRET SERVICE AWARE OF IRANIAN VIDEO THREAT TARGETING BARRON TRUMP, AGENCY SAYS

«Free Iran» protests are held outside the UN during the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday. (Ted Goodman, Goodman & Co)

Daftari said she has experienced that intimidation personally for years. «I’ve been followed, I’ve been hacked multiple times, I have been approached in person in L.A., in New York, even at the airport,» she told Fox News Digital.

Advertisement

She said that after one major hacking incident compromised her social media accounts as well as her personal and professional email, she was contacted by her local FBI office and began working closely with agents.

Daftari said hackers also obtained private photographs of her in a bikini while she was on vacation and sent them to her husband. «The message they want to send is very clear, that we know where you are, we can reach you,» she said. «And obviously the point is to intimidate and silence those who speak out, who report, who speak the truth and talk about all the crimes of this regime.»

She said the effects extend beyond prominent journalists or activists. Years ago, while filming at a Los Angeles cafe where Iranian Americans were watching a World Cup game, Daftari said she saw people attempting to hide their faces from the camera out of fear that footage could reach Iran and expose relatives there to retaliation.

Advertisement

The calculation, she said, illustrates why a system such as Alaj can have an impact even if a target never knows whether information about them has actually been submitted.

IRAN’S PROXY WAR HAS CROSSED OCEANS AND IS NOW KNOCKING ON AMERICA’S DOOR

A demonstrator shouts anti-war slogans while participating in a protest near the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2026. Protesters, some carrying Iranian and American flags, gathered to voice opposition to a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation targeting Iran’s leadership. (Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The threat has also changed Daftari’s own behavior.

Advertisement

She recalled being unable to stop thinking about security when the location of her father’s memorial service had to be announced publicly after his death. Daftari said she routinely considers where she parks, what details she shares online and security vulnerabilities at places she visits. «It does silence a lot of people and it does change the freedom by which we think we can operate here in the United States where we believe we have full freedom,» Daftari said.

«Their intimidation works,» she added. «It works to a certain extent on each individual.»

Daftari said the broader campaign should also shape how Americans understand the confrontation with Tehran, arguing that the threat extends beyond Iran’s nuclear program.

Advertisement

Military members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in western Tehran, Iran (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

«It’s not just about nuclear weapons, it’s about a deadly ideology that has made its way here to U.S. soil,» she said. «We have to understand that.»

Efrat (Effie) Lachter is a reporter for Fox News Digital with more than 15 years of experience covering conflict, global affairs, human rights and political accountability. She has directed and produced more than 200 documentary segments across more than 40 countries, documenting conflicts, humanitarian crises, corruption, human trafficking, gender-based violence and the human stories behind major world events. 

Advertisement

Lachter’s reporting has taken her into conflict zones and crisis areas across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. Her work has included uncovering human trafficking networks, revealing an ISIS underground torture prison in Syria, documenting the war in Ukraine and interviewing senior political figures and world leaders. She was also among the Western journalists who entered Russia after the war began to bring testimonies from Putin’s opposition. Lachter is the recipient of the 2022 Peres Center for Peace Award and was a 2023–2024 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. She also won two Rockower Awards for Excellence in Reporting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in political science.

war with iran, world, middle east, iran

The battle over Americans’ clocks reemerged in an unlikely way over the weekend, with President Donald Trump picking a fight with one of his top allies over the issue.

There have been many fights in Congress over the nearly two years that Trump has been in office for his second term that either ended in partisan victory or gloriously fizzled out, but one has quietly gone onto the shelf despite his pressure on Republicans to do something about it.

And that fight is over allowing states to voluntarily observe Daylight Saving Time year-round to effectively do away with the twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks. It’s a popular issue with voters and the president, and there’s a bill that passed the House this summer to enact the change. But it’s a policy issue that has divided both sides of the aisle and ground to a halt in the upper chamber.

TRUMP URGES SENATE TO PASS BILL MAKING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENT AFTER OVERWHELMING HOUSE VOTE

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has been one of the more vocal opponents of the bill, vowing to block any attempts to fast-track it on the floor. That resistance earned him a Truth Social post from Trump, who over the weekend shared his personal phone number in a bid to pressure the lawmaker to change his stance on Daylight Saving Time.

«Almost everybody wants «The Sunshine Protection Act» to pass, except for Tom Cotton,» Trump said. «To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.»

Cotton responded, and noted that Congress has tackled Daylight Saving Time before, only to roll back the change shortly after.

«No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Saving Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,» Cotton said on X. «Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.»

TRUMP FACES REPUBLICAN REBELLION OVER DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME AS SENATE BILL NEARS DEAD END

In the 1970s, lawmakers did enact year-round Daylight Saving Time. But Americans rapidly soured on the change, especially parents whose children had to wait in the dark for the school bus. It was repealed about a year later.

And Cotton recently answered an off-the-cuff question from a fellow Republican during their weekly closed-door policy lunches, a source told Digital, where he made a similar case as his response to Trump. No one pushed back during the meeting.

The issue of Daylight Saving Time, and supporting a permanent fix or sticking to the status quo is more geographical than political.

It’s, in part, mountainous and Western states versus coastal states. On one side of the spectrum are lawmakers like Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., who introduced a Senate version of the bill last year.

«Every year, more Americans grow more frustrated setting their clocks back and forth, and every winter folks in Washington state despair at the prospect of losing an hour of precious sunlight when we are forced off Daylight Saving Time,» Murray said in a statement at the time.

HOUSE PASSES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME REFORM AS TRUMP SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ENDING CLOCK CHANGE

While lawmakers in landlocked states out West, like Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., warn that it would cause kids in their states to go to school in the dark.

«I can see where Florida likes it for tee times at certain times of the year, but it doesn’t work so well for moms and dads putting kids on buses when the sunrise in Western Montana wouldn’t be till 9:30 in the morning. It’s not going to work for us,» Daines told CNN in July.

The most vital currency in the Senate is floor time. And lawmakers won’t have much floor time to spare when they return after the midterm elections in November. Though it’s popular, more pressing issues like the National Defense Authorization Act, supplemental funding for the war and a looming government funding battle will likely take precedence.

And Republican leaders acknowledge that it’s not as easy a simple yes-or-no vote for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

«Depends where you’re living in the country and the impact — what it would be, in your own home state,» Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in July. «So it’s not as simple as what one state might like.»

politics, donald trump, congress, domestic policy, republicans elections