Rains at Machu Picchu

As many of you probably heard, the rainy season in the mountains has been devastating for the very popular tourist destination - Cusco (and nearby citadel - Machu Picchu). Apparently the famed Incan city is untouched as the incredible aqueducts have drained all the water from the city but the 40+ mudslides have destroyed part of the railway to the citadel and the city below. Since there are ONLY two routes to the citadel - rail and hiking - and they are both closed it WILL NOT be possible to visit Machu Picchu until April (at the earliest). Last week, over 2,000 tourists were stranded, many who were hiking to Machu Picchu and were not aware of the damage and had to either hike another few days to Ollantaytambo or wait for the Pervian government to send police and military helicopters to evacuate them.
An update in the local Peruvian paper yesterday states:
The railway to the citadel was blocked last week when parts of the line were washed away by floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains that battered Peru’s southern Andean region. “We expect it will take eight weeks to repair the railroad tracks and (Machu Picchu) will be able to receive tourists again,” Pérez told Radio Programas Peru. “Of course we are advancing on different fronts.”
Peru’s Civil Defense estimated Friday about 23,500 people had been left homeless and more than 37,000 people lost part of their property. Flooding devastated 14,000 hectares of agricultural land and destroyed 4,000 homes. Some of the property destroyed was in Machu Picchu Pueblo, where buildings were built too close to the Vilcanota river and swept away when it flooded.
Blog of the humanitarian relief efforts
Living in Peru photos
Peruvian Times article

My parents are coming this weekend and we had to change their itinerary to go to the jungle rather than spend a week in Cusco (and now I get to go to Iquitos - lucky me!) I would definitely recommend going to Cusco if you are coming to Peru but only for 3-4 days.