Peru has declared a 60-day state of emergency in 23 regions over the risks of heavy rain, flooding, inundation and landslides that the El Niño phenomenon could cause.
According to the decree published in the Official Gazette El Peruano, climate experts expect El Niño to remain at an extraordinary level until early 2027. Emergency measures will be implemented against the risks posed by heavy rainfall expected to continue through February 2027.
Infrastructure and evacuation preparations to be accelerated
Public institutions and local administrations will accelerate efforts to strengthen infrastructure, prepare evacuation routes and build emergency aid stocks in areas classified as being at very high risk.
Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori said in a statement on the decree that it emphasized the scale of the danger had exceeded the response capacity of local and regional administrations. The decree entered into force with the signatures of the ministers involved in responding to the emergency.
Measures to be funded from existing budgets
The decree stated that funding for the preventive measures would come from the existing budgets of the relevant ministries and public institutions, without requesting additional resources from the Public Treasury.
High probability forecast for El Niño
In the latest forecast by Peruvian authorities, the current El Niño phenomenon was assessed as having a high probability of reaching an extraordinary magnitude in the country between September 2026 and January 2027.
A report dated August 28 by Peru’s National Committee for the Study of the El Niño Phenomenon put the probability of the event reaching extraordinary intensity in the coming months at 70 percent. This probability is expected to decline to 62 percent in January, while its intensity is expected to fall to strong to very strong levels in February and March.
During the August–October period, air temperatures are expected to remain well above seasonal norms along Peru’s entire coastline, with historical records potentially being broken.
