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INAMHI forecasts heavy rainfall with electrical storms across most of Ecuador through February 19, with three provinces on red alert and nine on orange. The highlands face afternoon thunderstorms, the coast faces flooding risks, and four highways remain closed from earlier weather damage.
A major landslide at kilometer 36 of the Calacalí–La Independencia highway on Friday night has completely shut down one of the two main routes connecting Quito to the coast. Travelers face 7-hour detours via Alóag–Santo Domingo as Carnival weekend begins.
Everything expats need to know for the February 14-17 long weekend: tourism VAT drops from 15% to 8%, all bank branches close for four days, three highways are completely shut from landslides, domestic workers get double pay, and nearly 47,000 police officers are on the streets.
Ecuador’s risk management agency raised alert levels nationwide as the rainy season intensifies. Pichincha (home to Quito), Esmeraldas, and Los Ríos are at the highest level. Sixteen more provinces — including Azuay, Guayas, and Loja — sit at orange alert heading into Carnival weekend.
Vice President María José Pinto launched Ecuador's 2026 National Dengue Plan and Gran Minga Comunitaria, targeting 1,532 critical sectors across seven provinces that accounted for 40% of last year's cases. Rainy season interventions begin immediately in Esmeraldas, Guayas, Santa Elena, Manabí, El Oro, Napo, and Pastaza.
Ecuador signed a bilateral mining framework with the United States at the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial on February 4. The agreement positions Ecuador's copper and gold reserves as strategically important to Washington -- and adds fuel to the mining debate in Azuay.
The government has indefinitely suspended all mining in Napo province and restricted processing plants in El Oro and Loja after detecting arsenic, cyanide, and heavy metals at dangerous levels in Amazonian rivers.
Ecuador's meteorological agency is forecasting persistent heavy rains with intense storm events affecting the coast, Amazon, and parts of the Sierra through at least February 8. Flooding and landslide risks remain elevated.
The government has indefinitely suspended all mining activity in Napo and restricted processing plants in El Oro and Loja after finding heavy metals in the Amazon's Napo River and links between illegal mining operations and drug cartels.
