Heavy rains in Peru over the past several weeks have affected about 80 percent of the national territory, affecting hundreds of people and resulting in several deaths, daily El Comercio said.
On Wednesday, the government of the impoverished region of Huancavelica declared a 60-day emergency as intense rains swept away bridges and destroyed homes, while in the south Arequipa declared an emergency because of rising rivers, and on the coast floods damaged the highway inland between Cañete and Lunahuaná.
On Thursday, the province of Arequipa said it will assign 2 million soles (approximately $75,000) to repair damages caused by the rains.
More than seven people have been reported killed by floods or landslides, and hundreds of homes, crops and roads have been damaged.
The director of Senamhi, the national weather service, Nelson Quispe, said that the rains, which have also affected Ica, Lima, Ancash, Ayacucho and Cajamarca, are expected to continue this week. A low pressure system moving across the southern highlands from Brazil and Bolivia has caused the increase of rains.
In Lima, intermittent rain continued over three days last week while rains on the north desert coast of Piura were unusually heavy.
