Peru's government has pushed nearly 900 districts into a 60-day state of emergency, racing to clear river channels and stage flood defenses before a rainy season that forecasters now say carries better-than-even odds of turning into an extraordinary El Niño. For the large Peruvian community in the United States, the order is also a starting point for something more personal: figuring out whether a parent's, sibling's, or hometown's district made the list, and how to send help without falling for the scams that tend to follow disaster headlines.
