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AFP
LIMA
PERUVIANS struggled on Sunday to cope with avalanches, mudslides and extensive flash flooding caused by torrential downpours, and forecasters predicted still more rain ahead, prolonging the country's woes.
It has been a bad year for flooding in Peru, and the toll including from the latest dangerous weather now stands at 75 since January, the government said. Devastating damage reports continue to pour in.
The National Emergency Operations Center said 99,475 Peruvians had lost everything since the beginning of the year, while 626,928 had suffered less serious damage to their homes. The government predicted days of more rain ahead.
On Saturday, flood waters swept into the center of Trujillo, the country's third-largest city, filling its streets and forcing residents braving the waters to cling to each other to avoid being swept away.
The"huaycos,"as Peruvians call the powerful avalanches of mud and stone that pour down from steep Andean hillsides after heavy rain, continued their damaging ways.
Mountains of mud filled city streets, sweeping away everything in their paths: houses, furniture and sometimes people.
