During the second day of precipitation in the region, activations of streams with road closures and traffic on some interior routes were recorded. In addition, public and private places were flooded due to the amount of water falling, which in some areas exceeded 100 mm.
As a balance, the provincial presidential delegate of Limarí, Marily Escobar, announced that during Friday, they were on the ground reviewing various points in the province as they received alert calls from both citizens and services.
“We were in constant coordination with the municipal emergency teams, as well as with social leaders in response to different situations such as crashes on roads, some roadblocks and flooding, mainly,” he said.
On the other hand, he commented that they made contact with farmers, APR, farmers’ unions and neighborhood associations. “In general, there is a positive assessment of this meteorological front. We have not had any reports of people being affected, which keeps us calm since in the event of an emergency it is the most important thing,” he remarked.
“We were able to visit reservoirs seeing how their volume has increased and we have seen rivers and streams that have returned to their full flow. Certainly the most notable thing is the relief to the agricultural world,” he emphasized.
I BREATH IN THE LIMARI
Pedro Castillo, mayor of Combarbalá, was happy about the meteorological event, which left more than 100 millimeters of precipitation. “That said, it should be noted that the roads are going to be repaired, the bridges are going to be replaced, the affected homes are going to be attended to, so if we look at it in general terms, the balance is tremendously positive for having received this amount of rain, without wind nor having had to regret personal misfortunes.”
The mayor pointed out that the main difficulty had to do with the road network, “where there are several routes cut off, the main one being the one that connects Combarbalá with Matancillas, where the rising waters of the Pama River completely destroyed the bridge.”
“Overall, it was a tremendously positive front in terms of the amount of water that comes to recharge our water tables and the water network, with our three rivers with active water courses, so it is a small relief in the midst of the drought that “We are living,” said Castillo.
For his part, Jonathan Acuña, mayor of Ovalle, also assessed the amount of rainfall that has fallen, considering the effects caused by drought in recent years. “However, we had certain complications in some places, as a result of flooding in some houses, which logically we became aware of and acted together with firefighters requesting support.”
There were places that presented some very traditional floods, which have been repeated in recent years, such as the Parque Inglés sector, Avenida Las Ferias, and some roads in the rural sector. Although the balance is positive, because we do not have lives to regret, logically we understand that we have to go to the aid of those who, in some way, are most affected,” he added.
In turn, Carlos Araya, mayor of Punitaqui, agreed that “the rain fills us with joy and hope given that more than 100 millimeters fell in the urban sector and more than 140 millimeters in the rural sector of the commune.”
“We can record that the teams were working to help those who needed it, the crews, firefighters worked and the work with CESFAM was also highlighted during all the hours that water was falling in Punitaqui,” he said.
Along these lines, he pointed out that “people who want to come to the interior of the commune on the weekend, we inform that the conditions are not appropriate for vehicular traffic.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Flores, mayor(s) of Río Hurtado, commented that “it was a calm rain, which did not cause any major inconveniences in our community. At night, both Firefighters, Carabineros and municipal officials, supported us in some complications that we had with two homes in the town of Hurtado and in Fundina, where we had a wall collapse, but they went to visit the person who had the problem”.
“As for the routes, they are passable, but we ask the community to go out only if necessary because there are still rock and stone collapses on the road. We had a road block in the La Cortadera sector, where road personnel managed to clear it, leaving it accessible for small vehicles,” he added.
Finally, the mayor of Monte Patria, Cristian Herrera Peña, highlighted the various subsequent scenarios, on the one hand, the good news for the producers, while on the other hand he detailed the process of emergency care and preparations.
“When this frontal system was finished, we already showed our joy, we talked with the neighbors, they were very excited about the event. This is a commune that needed water resources for its development, producers, families, everyone in general. We have situations to resolve, and we are starting to think about the post-event, we have difficulties with families without electricity, roads that are complex and some neighbors who are cut off,” he concluded.
