To alleviate the freezing of the pipes, the customer manager of Aguas Magallanes recommends “moisten cloths in hot water and put them in the frozen areas, for no reason apply hot water in the areas because this can break the pipe”.
The cold remains during the last days throughout the Magellan Regiongenerating a series of disorders that affect the community.
One of the main situations was freezing of pipes, both in Natales and Punta Arenasbeing the regional capital the one that reported more cases of this type, which mobilized the emergency units of Aguas Magallanes to meet the requirements.
According to what was explained by the zone head of clients of Magellanic watersMiguel Gatica, during the day yesterday, Monday, 150 requests were met for the freezing of meters in Magallanes, accumulating 600 calls of this type in the last few days.
“So far, as a result of the low temperatures, we have more than 150 requirements throughout the region. Natales is calmer, most of the requirements are concentrated in Punta Arenas. In the last five days we have regarding 600 requests, which exceeds normal,” Gatica said.
To alleviate the situation, “We recommend moistening cloths in hot water and putting them on the frozen areas, for no reason apply hot water to the areas because this can break the pipe. Another option is to work with a hair dryer on the affected area,” he stressed.
Requirements can be made through different platforms. “We have different channels, including the customer phone number 280028, also the mobile app and www.aguasmagallanes.cl, or our customer service centers in person.”
Similarly, the community must wait for the company to respond to their request, since the crews are operational in different parts of the city, which generates a delay in service.
Low temperatures and rainfall deficit
The low temperatures go hand in hand with an alert that was issued last week by Onemi Magallanes, according to the report issued by the Southern Zonal Meteorological Center, which warned that it would greatly affect the Province of Última Esperanza.
Nicolás Butorovic, a climatologist at the Institute of Patagonia, pointed out that during the early hours of yesterday one of the lowest temperatures in history, which he cataloged as a record in Puerto Natales, where it was two tenths of -19 degrees.
“In Punta Arenas there was a minimum of -7.2 degrees at 6:18 a.m. From the 3rd to the 10th of July we had all the mean averages for the day below zero. Future had -7.1 and Puerto Natales broke the absolute record with –18.8 degrees at 4:45 a.m.; that had already had the record on Sunday of -16.1, which was early in the morning, and the previous record was 16 degrees, on July 27, 2016. This is typical of winter, July is the coldest for all the capitals regional. We had returned to reality,” said the expert.
water deficit
Despite this, one of the most complex situations, according to the specialist, is the rain deficit.
“The unfortunate thing for Punta Arenas is the rainfall deficit, which is approximately one hundred millimeters, and there is no rain. For Tuesday and Wednesday some snow water might fall, but it would not be much, ”Butorovic concluded.
