The hitherto death toll of the powerful cyclone Yaku, which hit Peru over the last few days, has amounted to six while hundreds of homes are battered by torrential rains and the north of the Latin American country experiences immense disruptions.

Yaku had caused flooding that claimed six lives, the National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI) said early on Friday.

Peru has been struggling to contain the elements that bore down on the northern Tumbes, Piura, and Lambayeque provinces leaving collapsed houses and flooded streets in their wake.

The cyclone has also skirted parts of Ecuador.

Rains are to continue until Tuesday in the Arequipa region, the Peruvian weather forecast said. In the province of Piura, citizens have been calling on authorities for help to recover their belongings. The government, according to Reuters, heard the call and was delivering humanitarian aid to the worst-hit areas while President Dina Boluarte visited affected localities in the north.

“It is sad and painful. Families are trapped in the mud, rice crops are flooded… This can’t continue,” the president said.

The government has also declared a state of emergency.

Cars and other vehicles following the Pan-American North Highway had to be turned around due to heavy rains in Lambayeque that rendered sections of the route impassable.

Since the start of the rainy season about a month ago, as many as 58 people had been killed, INDECI said.