Violent mudslide in the Arequipa region of Peru
Image credit: Deadly mudslide in Peruvian Arequipa region on January 26, 2017.
The same weather system responsible for dramatic riverbank erosion event that led to a collapse of a hotel in the Peruvian town of Lircay on Thursday, January 26, 2017, has caused a violent mudslide on the Panamerican Sur Highway in southern Peru.
The slide occurred after heavy rains dislodged rocks and earth on a mountain in Arequipa region. Disturbing footage shows the mudslide sweeping away a small car and crashing it into a truck. The driver and two passengers were killed.
Several vehicles on the same stretch of the highway were left trapped in up to a meter of mud and rocks, local media reported.
On the same day, a 50-room hotel collapsed into the Sicra River in the town of Lircay:
In a preliminary damage assessment released January 26, Peru's National Institute of Civil Defence (INDECI) said that damage caused by heavy rains nationwide have so far left 28 245 people affected.
Nationwide, 103 homes collapsed as a result of heavy rain, floods and landslides, 192 are inhabitable and 7 123 affected. Several rivers burst their banks.
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