“These rains are going to continue very strongly (…) we regret the first death,” said President Gabriel Boric, in a message from Sweden, where he is on an official visit, about the “alarm”, the highest level of warning to the population issued by the Meteorological Directorate of Chile.
The “alarm” includes the regions of Coquimbo, in the north; Valparaíso and Metropolitana, in the center, and O’Higgins, Ñuble and Biobío, in the south, due to unusually intense rains and winds.
The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, reported that to speed up the deployment of resources, a state of “catastrophe” was declared in five of these regions.
In Santiago, about 80 mm of water is expected to fall in a few hours, the same amount as expected for an entire month of June in a normal year. The rains come after more than a decade of drought in the central area of the country.
The front is accompanied “by an atmospheric river” categorized between 4-5 on a scale of maximum five, due to the amount of water vapor available for precipitation, according to the Meteorological Directorate.
The latest record from Senapred (National Disaster Prevention and Response Service) estimated 4,304 people affected, concentrated for now in cities in the south of the country.
The most affected area is the city of Curanilahue, where two rivers overflowed and flooded the streets of the area.
The authorities decreed the total suspension of classes for Santiago and four other regions of the country, and asked the population to limit their travel.
In the city of Viña del Mar, 110 km from Santiago, authorities are alert for the possible collapse of a 12-story building and 200 apartments in the Reñaca sector.
The weekend rains caused a sinkhole 15 meters long and 30 meters deep under the property.
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2024-06-14 21:25:53