Lima, March 27 (RHC-Xinhua), -- Peru's northwestern region of Piurawas was hit by heavy downpours for over 15 hours from Saturday night into Sunday, with approximately 184 millimeters of rain, the governor of Piura, Fernando Hilbck, announced on Sunday.

In a statement, he said that red alerts have been declared for both the Piura and Tambogrande rivers, as their infrastructure is reaching the limits of its capacity.

Contact has been cut with a number of villages along the coast and the government has dispatched heavy machinery to try to reinforce critical points along the rivers and to repair road access.

11 Peruvian regions, especially in the northwest, have been hit hard by heavy rains due to the El Niño phenomenon.

El Niño has caused at least 90 deaths in Peru. There are also 270 injured, 20 missing and around 800,000 people have been affected.

He added that a lack of urban planning and prevention had worsened the situation in Peru, causing great damage to homes, highways, fields and public infrastructure.

Peru's National Institute of Civil Defense updated its numbers Saturday to show 153,329 homes have been damaged, as well as 1,250 schools, 509 bridges and 7,500km of roads.