|

Floods destroyed 346 homes, severely damaged 427, Chile

ByTeo Blašković
floods-destroyed-346-homes-severely-damaged-427-chile

Image credit: TW

Chilean authorities said floods affecting the country since late January 2019 destroyed 346 homes and left 427 severely damaged as of February 15.

Over 1 000 people have been displaced and at least 6 killed, ONEMI said. 1 person was killed in Arica y Parinacota, 2 in Camina and Pozo Almonte and 3 in El Loa Province.

The worst affected in Arica y Parinacota are Arica, Camarones and Putre where several roads are still fully or partially closed and drinking water supply disrupted in several locations, FloodList reports. 

5 024 homes were damaged in Iquique and Tamurugal provinces of Tarapaca Region. 4 944 in Alto Hospicio and 90 in Iquique. Over 20 roads are fully or partially closed, leaving 17 communities isolated.

Overflowing rivers in Antofagasta region damaged around 220 homes. 334 people were injured and 244 homes destroyed in San Pedro de Atacama after the Vilama and San Pedro rivers overflowed.

On February 17, ONEMI issued Red Alert for the commune of Torres del Paine in Patagonia due to overflowing Paine, Gray and Serrano rivers. The flooding could affect the local population and tourists located in different trekking circuits and routes of the world-famous Torres del Paine National Park, mainly in the sector included in the Laguna Amarga-Cerro Reserve road. Red Alert was still in effect as of February 20.

Featured image

Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.

Share:

Published in the last 24 hours

  1. El Niño reaches 2.0°C on NOAA’s index, a tenth of a degree behind 1997–98 at the same point, as forecasters expect it to challenge the all-time record this winter
  2. The fastest wind gust ever measured on Earth, 253 mph, hit an oil island off Australia during Cyclone Olivia in 1996, and nobody noticed for more than a decade, until experts reading old data quietly took the record from New Hampshire's Mount Washington Epicenter
  3. In 1954, a grapefruit-sized meteorite crashed through a roof in Sylacauga, Alabama, and struck Ann Hodges as she napped on her couch Epicenter
  4. A meteorite blew a crater beside a village near Lake Titicaca in 2007, and dozens of villagers who went to see it got headaches and nausea, though tests found nothing the rock had added to the water Epicenter

From around the web