By IANS
Lima : Police and the Peruvian army have begun airlifting essential supplies and medicine to people marooned in the north, isolated following weeks of heavy rain, civil defence administration said Tuesday.
Heavy rain over the past several weeks caused floods in areas of the northern districts of Lambayeque, Piura, Amazonas and San Martin where more than 2000 people have been isolated from the rest of the land.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated, civil defence chief Luis Felipe Palomino, told EFE, adding that no casualties had been reported.
He expected the relief and rescue scenario to improve after road links reopened.
But the National Weather Service said there was no visible sign that the rain would relent in weeks to come.
The collapse of a waterlogged hillside in Amazonas diverted the course of the Urcubamba River, destroying more than 500 meters of highway and isolating the town of El Asserradero.
The weeks-long rain has affected 600,000 people so far this year, mainly in the northern part of the country.