Panama Canal Closed

Last Week, for only the 3rd time since it 1914 opening, the Panama Canal was forced to close.

More than a thousand people were evacuated due to flooding caused by record rainfall. So far ten people are reported to have died.

This is rain as never seen before. "Our meteorologists says it's never rained so much in Panama in the 73 years that we've kept climate records," -President Martinelli.

The Panama Canal Authority said ship transit was "temporarily suspended" Wednesday because the Alajuela and Gatun lakes were at the highest levels ever recorded, according to Newsroom Panama. The 48-mile-long, man-made shipping channel was closed in 1989 when the United States invaded Panama to depose strongman Manuel Noriega, and in 1915 and 1916 because of landslides, CNN said.

Manuel Benitez, executive vice president of operations for the canal authority, said the closure was necessary because transit through the canal could be affected by the currents of the Chagres River, which flows into the channel on the way to Gamboa.