Gary Andrews

There are certain moments when your stomach lurches. One of them is when your girlfriend, a seasoned traveller, sends a text saying she’s had to be evacuated from her hotel and she’s scared. This from somebody who has been halfway around the globe and takes most things in her stride.

I rarely put any kind of personal stuff on this blog because, well, I just choose not to. But, equally, I’ve decided to blog about the flooding and mudslides in the Cusco area of Peru (home to Machu Picchu) in case, like me, you’re one of the friends, family, or relatives of the 2000 or so tourists stranded in the area and are just looking for information and happen to stumble across this. Not knowing is one of the worst feelings ever

I don’t speak Spanish, so have a bit of a job following what’s going on over there, but I managed to get ten minutes on the phone with my girlfriend earlier and have a slightly better idea of what’s going on (and please bear in mind my knowledge of Peruvian geography is next to abysmal so I may get some things wrong here).

Cusco has had heavy rain over the past few days, leading to swollen rivers and flooding. These, in turn, have caused landslides. Between the floods and the landslides, they’ve managed to take out the train line into Machu Picchu and surrounding roads. The only way in or out of the area is currently via the Inca Trail, which I’m told takes six days to walk.

The group of tourists S was with were due to leave at 4pm local time on Sunday, only to be told there was no train due to landslides, and were sent back to the village and given hotel rooms for the night.

S’s room was close to the river and she could hear the water rushing outside all night. At 5am the group was told to leave the hotel and move to a new one, and to ring their friends and family to let them know they were all right, in case they’d seen reports on the news.

The group were moved to a hotel higher up and away from the river. They were lucky enough to get rooms. Other tourists are still arriving, via the Inca trail, only to find there is no way out. People are sleeping in inns, train stations, and wherever they can get a space.

Later in the day, S went down to look at the hotel they’d been evacuated from. There was a large crack in the road outside, due to the flood water.

If this all sounds very dramatic, things have calmed down as people wait to find a way out of Machu Picchu. Ironically, the weather is currently gorgeous. If it weren’t for the floods and the damage, you’d never have known there was a problem with the area.

At the moment it seems as if everybody is safe, albeit a little frustrated at being stuck and perhaps a little uncomfortable if they’re sleeping in the train station. But safe, nonetheless. The question is how long they’ll be stuck there for.

The government has declared a state of emergency in Cusco and is making plans to send in helicopters and airlift the 2,000 or so stuck near the Inca citadel out of the area, although S says it’s not clear how long this will take and when it will start.

For the meantime, all the stranded can do is sit and wait, but at least they’re safe. Which is the main thing.

Judging by other reports, the floods have devastated the crops and agriculture of the surrounding area and around 300 families have been displaced. It’s probable Cusco will be declared a disaster zone. The tourist groups will get out sooner rather than later, but the clean up will take some time, while the impact will be felt for even longer.

[There's another perspective from somebody caught up the other side here. Thanks also to everybody who hunted down links to what was going on after I initially Tweeted about it. There are more images of the floods here.]

UPDATE:  Haven’t heard from S yet, but, judging by Twitter and other reports, the evacuation operation is underway and it’ll take about 20 hours to get everybody out via helicopter (or, I suspect, long, if what S told me last night). My Spanish isn’t good, but huge thanks to Chris White, who has been translating for me today.

Also, there’s a very good first-person blog from a CBS reporter, which gives you another idea of what things are like on the ground.

written by Gary \\ tags: Cusco, Cuzco, floods in Peru, Machu Picchu, Peru, Peruvian floods