Santiago de Chile (EFE) central Chile, which suffer the most powerful frontal system since 1993.
“Climate change is here to stay. What we have experienced these days is a great example, only in a day and a half, it has rained in the city of Santiago what it rained in all of last year. That puts us in a very stressful situation,” warned the governor of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Claudio Orrego, at a press conference.
The authorities warned that the capital could suffer massive water cuts starting at noon this Saturday, a situation that could affect 34 municipalities where more than six million people reside.
The Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, reported that at 8:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT) this Friday it will be confirmed whether the cut occurs in the capital, where up to 150 liters of water per square meter have fallen in recent hours.
The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, reported that reserve tanks were set up with the capacity to supply water until Saturday at noon, and called on the people of Santiago to be “responsible” in their consumption to avoid “critical situations.”
The Chilean company, Aguas Andinas, advised that each person accumulate 15 liters of water as a preventive measure against the cut.
Contaminated drinking water
The torrential rains have affected the central zone of Chile for a day and a half, and are especially intense at high levels of the mountains, from where they drag mud and plant material that cloud the water that reaches the capital.
Precipitation in high mountains usually falls in winter, as snow, but the climate crisis has caused unusually high temperatures in the Andes, exceeding 0 degrees Celsius, even above 3,000 meters, which enhances the fall of rain in the form of water
“Large rainfall is falling, it has not rained like it has been for years,” said Minister Jessica López. She announced the decree of a yellow alert in terms of provision of drinking water.
The Metropolitan Region woke up this Friday with flooding of the Mapocho rivers, north of the city. And from the Maipo River, in the south, in communes where the hydraulic work is more precarious.
In addition to urban areas, there is concern about the possible rupture of a dam in the Buin commune, south of the capital. It was blocked with plant material and garbage carried by the water and whose collapse would affect more than 30,000 hectares of agricultural land.
In towns in the foothills, thousands of people have had to be evacuated, while some passes with Argentina have been closed. In particular, Los Conquistadores, which links the Chilean metropolitan region and the Argentine province of Mendoza.
The entire center of the country affected by torrential rains
The intense rains affect other areas, such as the Valparaíso region, in central Chile, with two provinces on red alert due to the threat of the Aconcagua River overflowing, for which several provisional shelters have been set up for people who are evicted from their homes.
Other provinces south of Santiago, in the regions of O’Higgins, Maule and Ñuble, are also on yellow or red alert, with classes suspended, rivers flooding and even 14 mining workers isolated and sheltering in a house without basic supplies. .
The El Niño climate phenomenon has brought to the Andean country “more rainfall than normal” this winter, according to the Chilean Meteorological Directorate (DMC).
This climatic condition causes an increase in the sea temperature in the eastern Pacific and greater rainfall in several American countries.
The situation and alert are expected to last throughout the weekend and even into next week.