Four dead and two missing due to rains in south-central Chile

Four people died as a result of the intense frontal system that hits the south central zone of Chile The storms were confirmed by authorities in the South American country, a weather phenomenon that has left more than 1 million homes without electricity in the last few hours, in addition to forcing the suspension of operations at the Santiago airport early Friday morning due to gusts of wind of up to 127 kilometers per hour.

The National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred) detailed in a report delivered last night that the deceased people are from the Metropolitan Region, Los Ríos, Los Lagos and Valparaíso, while the missing people correspond to Viña del Mar and the Nevados de Chillán.

Missing due to rains in Chile

At the national level, the entity indicated that there are 903 people affected, 49 sheltered and 944 isolated. Meanwhile, there are 1,343 homes with minor damage, 471 with major damage, 24 destroyed and 3,682 under evaluation to determine their level of affectation.

As for power supply problems, the frontal system left 1,117,000 people without electricity nationwide, 710,000 of them concentrated in the Metropolitan Region.

The rains have caused various infrastructure problems in the affected areas, such as fallen trees, blown-off roofs and traffic difficulties.
Power outages have also been reported in the Araucanía region, with more than 105,000 homes affected, in O’Higgins, with more than 103,000, Biobío, with 78,000 and Valparaíso, with more than 63,000 customers without access to electricity.

Missing due to rains in Chile

Over the next few days, the weather event “will continue to advance towards the north” until it hits the Coquimbo region and the south of the Atacama province, more than 1,000 kilometers north of Santiago, said the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response (Senapred).

Rains in Chile

Last June, a violent frontal system hit the south-central part of the country, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless, causing massive evacuations due to flooding, interruptions in the electricity supply and traffic problems, as well as forcing the suspension of school and university activities.

EFE