Amazon in Peru record shallow

The water level in the Amazon in north-west of Peru has fallen to record lows over the past 40 years values. As reported in the Bureau of Meteorology of the country, the cause was established here an unusually long period of dry weather without any rain. At least six large merchant ships can not come to the city of Iquitos - the largest port on the Peruvian Amazon with a population of more than 400 thousand, informs BBC News. The water level here dropped to a mark of 106 meters: it is up to 50 inches below the previous low recorded in 2005. Iquitos, as well as several other Peruvian cities in the Amazon rainforest, have no land communication with the rest of the country, so it is very heavily dependent on river transport. Now food and essential commodities in the city delivered to small boats that took twice as long and considerably increases the cost of goods. According to official figures, the Amazon is the second-longest in the world, behind the Nile, but far exceeds it in the basin area and volume of transported water. True, a few years ago, scientists, using a different method of counting, brought the river to the South American leaders and length. Either way, the rainy season in the region will begin only next month, but until then forecasters expect further fall river level.