‘We have not had this accumulation of rains since 2003’, said the mayor of Quito about the alluvium in La Gasca, which caused the death of eleven people

The strong deluge on Monday afternoon that affected the La Gasca sector, north of Quito, and which caused the death of eleven people, occurred because this day the rains reached record levels that had not been recorded for 19 years, This was stated by the mayor of Quito, Santiago Guarderas, during a press conference from the metropolitan Emergency Operations Committee (COE).

Due to the rainfall, the slopes of the El Tejado ravine overflowed, causing it to become saturated and exceed the catchment and reservoir infrastructure of the Metropolitan Potable Water and Sanitation Company (Epmaps), at the height of Mariscal Sucre Avenue, reported the mayor. .

“This accumulation of rain is really a situation that we had not had in many years,” Guarderas lamented.

The number of people killed by the strong flood that affected the La Gasca sector, in the north of Quito, rises to eleven

He described that, according to technical reports, on January 29 in the capital 3.5 milliliters of water were registered -equivalent to 3.5 liters per square meter-, on January 30 it was 0.40 milliliters, and on Monday 31 “we had an accumulation of rain of 75 liters per square meter, a record figure that we had not had until 2003”, said the mayor. He added that for this day, the forecast was that it would reach 2 milliliters of rain.

The stream of mud that came down from the ravine collided with a sports field, in the La Comunica sector, near Mariscal Sucre Avenue, where a group of people were playing ecuavoley.

This is where the death of at least eleven people occurred, according to preliminary reports, he reported.

Municipality of Quito recommends residents of the La Gasca sector to stay on the upper floors of their houses after the flood

The authority confirmed that, at the moment, there are 15 injured citizens, who were transferred to the Eugenio Espejo and Carlos Andrade Marín hospitals. In addition, there is damage to eight structures.

“This causes us a lot of pain,” said Guarderas, expressing solidarity with the relatives of the fatalities and the injured.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the Quito Fire Department, as well as Epmaps personnel, will fly over the area.

Also present at the meeting of the metropolitan COE were the Vice President of the Republic, Alfredo Borrero, and the Prefect of Pichincha, Paola Pabón, among other national and local authorities.

Borrero reiterated the Government’s support to meet the needs generated by the event. Meanwhile, the prefect announced that heavy machinery will be mobilized to remove debris and clean the streets. (I)