The Alccamayo River, near the tourist site of Machu Picchu in Peru, burst its banks on Friday devastating the town of Aguas Calientes, located at the foot of the famous Inca citadel, according to the media The Latin Press.
The provisional report shows one person injured and another missing. But the main damage is material: a house was destroyed, four others were damaged by the floods and three commercial establishments were partially destroyed, according to the Regional Center for Emergency Operations.
According to the news agency, it was the torrential rains that fell on the province of Cuzco in recent days that caused the river to overflow, causing massive mudslides. Images on social media show mud encroaching on city streets, the first floors of several homes, hotels and restaurants and the train tracks used to take tourists to the Inca Citadel.
According to Prensa Latina, train operator PeruRail said in a statement that train operations were suspended, adding that no passengers or workers were injured. The National Civil Defense Institute said authorities were assessing the safety conditions of uncollapsed bridges with a view to ferrying tourists and local residents to Ollantaytambo, a town 30 km (18 miles) from Machu. Picchu.
Aguas Calientes is the town from which tourists set off to climb the mountain on which the famous archaeological site is located. Some 447,800 people visited the Machu Picchu site in 2021, according to France 24. A figure well below the 1.5 million visitors per year, before the pandemic.
