At least 59 people have died and more than 12,000 have been affected by the rains in Peru.

At least 59 dead and more than 12,000 homeless have left Peru’s rainy season since September. due to flooding and flooding, Civil Defense reported this Sunday (03/12/2023).

Flooding accompanied by strong winds that affected part of Peru has intensified over the past 72 hours and affected urban and rural areas of the coastal departments of Ancash, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Piura and Tumbes on the border with Ecuador.

“From the beginning (September) of the rainy season until March 12, we have 12,200 victims, 59 deaths.57 injured and 8 missing,” said Carlos Yáñez, head of the National Civil Defense Institute (Indeci), at a press conference.

Two children were among the dead.

Authorities also reported 1,326 houses destroyed and 3,173 uninhabitable. confirming the damage recorded in the country since the beginning of the rainy season.

“There is nothing to save here, everything is in the mud. We went out in what we wear,” a homeless resident of the Esperanza district in the La Libertad region (north) told TV channel N.

According to the authorities, the level of seasonal rainfall has risen sharply due to the presence of a “unorganized cyclone” off the Peruvian coast in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

According to the Civil Defense, “andCyclone Yaku is a very unusual phenomenon.causing increased rainfall in the north.

“Cyclone Yacu is located in front of the Lambayeque and La Libertad regions and causes increased humidity in the northern part of the country, which causes heavy rains in the north and in the center,” explained Yáñez.

State of emergency

The displacement of the cyclone, which is located about 500 kilometers from the Peruvian coast, according to the Peruvian meteorological service (Senahmi), activated a heavy rain warning in Lima, where rain is rare.

President Dina Boluarte announced that “a state of emergency has been declared in 400 districts of the country due to the impact of Cyclone Yaku.”

President announces suspension of school hours scheduled for Monday in the regions of Tumbes, Piura, Lambaeque, La Libertad, Ancash, Lima, Callao and Ica due to the impact of rains on the north coast and the forecast of heavy rains on the central coast in the coming days.

Senahmi clarified that this is not the first time that an unorganized cyclone “other than tropical cyclones” has appeared off the Peruvian coast.

The presence of this type of cyclone is associated with the El Niño climatic phenomenon.. “Peru has already had a cyclone in 1982 and 1983 with El Niño and also in 2017, but this time it is stronger,” meteorologist Raquel Loayza told RPP radio on Friday.

“This cyclone is weakening as the water cools and approaches the coast,” he added.

El Niño is a climatic phenomenon that causes overheating of waters in the South American Pacific Ocean.hitting the coasts of Peru and Ecuador mostly as rain and floods.

Given the imminent event, the authorities declared a state of emergency for the surveillance system in anticipation of avalanches and other cataclysms.