The cold front that affected a large part of Chile with intense rains and winds moved towards Argentina this Thursday, after causing one death and more than 6,000 victims, according to a report from the authorities.
In the last assessment of the day, the Chilean Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, stated that “the worst of this frontal system is behind us, but we cannot let our guard down.”
The phenomenon affected the regions of Valparaíso and Metropolitana, in the center of the country; in addition to O’Higgins, El Maule and BioBío, in the south. In the Coquimbo region, in the north, there was almost no impact.
The greatest damage was concentrated in Biobío, 600 km south of Santiago. Of the 6,392 people affected according to the latest report, 6,309 are located in that area, where two rivers overflowed in the town of Curanilahue.
“We need boats to be able to get people out,” one of those affected in that city, the epicenter of the floods, claimed before Chilean National Television, according to authorities.
During the morning, Minister Tohá traveled to that town to assess the damage and visit shelters for victims. Some 2,000 houses were affected by the flooding of the Curanilahue and Las Ranas rivers.
According to the authorities, 182 mm of rain fell in BioBío in the last 24 hours. In the Metropolitan region of Santiago 55 and in Valparaíso 67.
-Atmospheric river-
The front continued its path towards Argentina, which is why the Chilean authorities canceled the active weather alert.
“80% of this frontal system has already left Chile and is in Argentine territory,” stated earlier the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
The Chilean Meteorological Directorate had issued an unusual “climate alarm” on Wednesday: the highest level of warning to the population due to intense rainfall and winds for the center and south of the country, an area that covers 14 of the 20 million Chileans and where the authorities declared a state of “catastrophe”.
An alarm level of these characteristics had not been activated for the Chilean capital in the last two decades. For 15 years, the central area of Chile has suffered an intense drought.
The latest report from the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred) maintained the balance of one person who died due to the emergency in the city of Linares (south).
In Santiago it continued to rain and a total of about 80 mm of water was expected to fall, the same amount as expected for an entire month of June in a normal year.
In the capital, where 9 million inhabitants live, a large part of the population decided to stay at home.
Flooding was reported in some peripheral areas.
The cold front was accompanied “by an atmospheric river” categorized between 4-5 on a scale of maximum 5, due to the amount of water vapor available, which “considerably increased the amount of expected precipitation,” according to the Meteorological Directorate.
Within the framework of the emergency, the authorities suspended classes in Santiago and other affected regions, and asked the population to limit their travel.
In the city of Viña del Mar, 110 km east of Santiago, there is an alert for the possible collapse of a 12-story building with 200 apartments in the Reñaca sector.
The weekend rains caused a sinkhole 15 meters long and 30 meters deep under the property.
pa/vel/dga/arm
AFP
