YURIMAGUAS CUT OFF FROM TARAPOTO

For days now Yurimaguas has been cut off from the world south of us. With all the construction of the road from Tarapoto and the incessant rain, the mountain is falling down. There have been at least 20 people now killed by mudslides and huge rocks falling on them. They finally closed the road on Saturday. This was the day that Ken and Pancho had to leave to get to the embassy. They took a private plane to Tarapoto. The road was reopened but the same problem kept occurring so it was closed once again. They are saying that it will take at least 3 days but more likely a week to get everything cleared and hopefully the big rocks removed from the possibility of falling again. Ken and Pancho ran into Pastor Daniel Castro yesterday in Tarapoto and the 3 of them are trying to find an airplane to get them here today. The Air Force is giving free flights to those that are waiting, however, the priority list puts healthy men last and there are 300 on the list. They will make several flights a day for the next 3 days. The other situation that this presented is that no food is arriving in Yurimaguas so there are those that are taking advantage and raising prices ridiculously high and then there are other products that are just not available. It has been over a week since they allowed big trucks on the road. Please just pray for the workers on the road, those that need to find ways either to or from Yurimaguas and the company to find a permanent solution to the falling rocks.