(CNN) The world's weather turned wild over the Christmas holiday week, with devastating storms, tornadoes and wildfires wreaking havoc across the globe.

Torrential rains in parts of South America, blamed on El Nino, have displaced more than 150,000 people across Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In the United States, a mammoth storm system engulfing much of the country has claimed at least 24 lives, including four soldiers in Missouri. Counting victims from other storms earlier last week, the death toll is 43.

Swaths of northern England have been submerged with mammoth flooding , prompting evacuations and dozens of urgent warnings.

Authorities in Spain and Australia, meanwhile, are fighting to get devastating fires under control.