He deputy mayor, Freddy Neiradetailed in Cooperative the damage caused by the twister that hit the commune of Penco (Province of Concepción, Biobío Region), which were initially attributed to a waterspout.
“That’s it confirmed by the Meteorological Directorate that this climatological phenomenon it was a tornadowith winds that fluctuated between 105 and 137 kilometers per hourcausing great damage to homes in the coastal area and the center of Penco,” Neira told The Cooperative Journal.
“It was almost a kilometer that this tornado traveledwhich ran through the lower and central part of the city”, affecting “20 public lighting joints, five poles – of these, two were detached, broken -“, and also causing “a lot of fallen trees, a lot of roofs that flewzinc plates”.
“At some point, early in the morning, the panorama was very bleak“Neira said.
The balance indicates at this time 25 houses damaged: “Some suffered complete detachment from the roofs, and others had partial damage.”
The phenomenon was perceived “as a blow with a wingspan of about 30 meters, which advanced and in its path destroyed everything it encountered. Fortunately, it was not at ground level, it was lifted; then, it was hitting the homes that are in the upper part” of the commune.
If it had had other characteristics, the damage would have been greater, said the municipal administrator.
NO INJURED PEOPLE
Freddy Neira explained that the commune has 47 thousand inhabitantsand at the worst moment this morning there were some 3,000 thousand families no power supply.
“Fortunately, We did not have any physical harm to anyone.only shock of some older adults that they were taken to relatives, but there was no physical damage or anything to regret.
The most affected sectors were those of Black Beach, Saint Vincent and quince. In the latter “we have complete roof blasting: There is a house whose entire roof appeared 50 meters away. “We are talking about that degree of violence, of force,” he highlighted.
“TOTALLY SURPRISING”
The deputy mayor added that in this area of Biobío “it was already somewhat common (to have) waterspouts, which start within the sea and as they approach land they lose strength, but “This type of tornado that starts from the coastal area, but continues with the same rhythm, the same violence and force (inland), we had not suffered”.
Its appearance “was totally surprising,” without prior warning, “and clearly we are not prepared, as a population, to receive this level of phenomena.”
In the hours that followed, “Unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped raining.”and the municipality is focused on protecting the three homes that had their roofs completely blown off, and that due to the ongoing rainfall, “have continued to flood.”
