Tourist trap in Peru

I don't know if you heard -- given the deserved press coverage of the earthquake in Haiti -- but El Nino-connected rains have caused some major problems for Macchu Picchu tourists in Peru. Now, I never thought about trying to get there, but it is a popular tourist destination. There are actually two ways to get there --
by rail or walking (backpacking); the latter takes four days.

In the past week, landslides took out the rail route and have apparently covered sections of the backpacking trail. Thousands of tourists are stranded; the Peruvian government is getting them out by helicopter, but there are a lot more to go. And
there are serious concerns for backpackers that were out on the trail when the landslides began. There have already been deaths on the trail. One of the articles says that these are the heaviest rains in 15 years; I was thinking that it must have rained pretty hard during the 1997-1998 huge El Nino, but 15 years ago is back to 1995. So much for my insight.