Source: Cool Earth
Intense rainfall in the Andean and Amazon rainforest regions of Peru have caused havoc and devastation to communities and transport infrastructure over the last few weeks.
Despite severe drought conditions across the Amazon in 2010, the rainy season in Peru's mountains and rainforest have proved at least as intense as similarly unusual extremes at the start of last year, when even Machu Picchu was effected and thousands of tourists were stranded.
This year, at least four regions of Peru have suffered serious flooding. Over 5,000 people were effected in the Department of Pasco, many of them losing everything they owned. In the Department of Cusco, over 6 miles of one road is now buried under thick mud due to the rains, forcing local traders and even tourists to walk out of the problem area. Over 65 communities in the Department of Pasco are also underwater.The Ashaninka communities on the Rio Ene, where the UK Charity Cool Earth are preserving the rainforest, have also been effected. The floods last year demolished the buildings of one village - Camantavishi. This year they have inundated the neighbouring community of Yoyato, where the President of the Ashaninka Bioclimatic Association lives with his family. Some 10 miles or so to the south, another Cool Earth community - Pamaquiari - is also underwater. Only last August, the rivers were at their lowest in living memory.
Members of the communities who have made it down river to the nearest town to get urgent supplies have communicated that the Rio Ene, the main thoroughfare for locals, is so swollen and turbulent that it is very dangerous to travel. The rain continues.