Inamhi issued a rain alert in Quito, however, they assure that they could not predict what happened in the flood of La Comuna and La Gasca

Given the persistence of rains, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (Inamhi) issued a bulletin warning of a substantial increase in rainfall in the Coast and northern part of the Sierra. Among the concentration zones was Quito and the warning period was from the 26 to January 31, 2022.

However, the chart on maximum amount of daily precipitation that was expected in the Interandean zone was 10 to 20 millimeters of water.

This did not come close to the amount of liquid reported by the authorities of the cantonal Emergency Operations Committee (COE) on the flood of January 31 in La Comuna, north center of the capital.

According to the mayor Santiago Guarderas that day they recorded 75 millimeters so The El Tejado ravine collapsed. This, added to the linear and sloping shape of the ravine, allowed the dragging of stones, mud and trees that ended the lives of 28 people and caused various material damage.

The maximum anticipated for Coastal zone was from 30 to 80 millimeters, that figure is similar to what this sector of the city received in the natural disaster.

Vladimir Arreaga, Inamhi forecast analyst pointed out that the alert was sent to several institutions strategic as the Secretary of Security, Fire Department, Municipality of Quito, among others.

But he also pointed out that they could not prevent a specific precipitation in the area of ​​the Pichincha volcano. This, due to the small number of monitoring stations they have to study the meteorological behavior in the capital.

“To have a reference, that same day, in the south of Quito had approximately 20 millimeters, in the north 30 and something very local that appeared in that place in Pichincha, which was 75 millimeters”, argued Arreaga.

The Inamhi has three stations: one in cutuglagua, to the extreme south; the second is in Iñaquito, north center of the capital and the third in the Tumbaco Valley.

Arreaga, assured that they currently have 15% of the entire monitoring network in the country operational. “Several stations were turned off due to lack of personnel or lack of maintenance,” he said.

Finally, the official stated that alerts do work as a warning to take various preventive measures. For this reason, he recommended that the public be kept informed through your social networks in which alerts and monitoring carried out in the country are published.