Cotacachi, Imbabura
The constant and prolonged rains take their toll on the Cotacachi canton, in Imbabura, and leave two people dead, roads destroyed, bridges collapsed, communities cut off from communication, houses flooded and families affected.
An Aveo vehicle that tried to pass after 06:00 this Thursday, May 19, 2022 through the Cushcagua bridge, in the parish of Quiroga, fell into the river. The driver presumably did not realize that part of the table was destroyed by the effects of the strong winter storm.
Geovanny Zamora, commander of the Cotacachi Fire Department, confirmed that the vehicle fell into the small tributary and led to the death of the two occupants who tried to pass through this infrastructure.
The bridge over the Ambi River, between Cotacachi and the La Merced neighborhood of Atuntaqui, was flooded. After the cleaning carried out by municipal machinery, it was enabled for the circulation of vehicles.
On the Cotacachi – Imantag road, another bridge was destroyed, one of the walls fell to the ground due to the flooding of a ravine, also affecting a part of the cobblestone that collapsed. On the other hand, at the height of the Yanayaku pools, vehicular traffic is closed.
In the early hours of this Thursday 19, the downpour caused part of the road that is on a retaining wall to break near the aforementioned 18-meter bridge. There, a public service bus was trapped in a hole in the road. This caused a great scare to the driver of the car.
The unit was removed from the hole hours later with the support of a winch and logs.
According to Dilon Leyton, director of Physical Infrastructure of the Prefecture of Imbabura, it is necessary to rebuild a wall that supports the road, meanwhile the hollow that was produced will be filled with stone material.
The technician explained that they will carry out cleaning and channeling of the river water to avoid destroying the base of the bridge, and then build an internal fill and reinforce the sides.
They aspire until this Saturday to carry out emergent works to restore traffic without any danger. Until that happens, the site was closed with security tapes that warn of risk.
More damage to services
Marcelo Rosero, president of Yambaburo, reported that the previous Wednesday night the river overflowed, leaving the community incommunicado. For now, the town does not have drinking water and there is no vehicular access to that place.
Geovanny Zamora, from the Cotacachi Fire Department, commented that the downpours do not let up and so far have left 15 homes flooded in the sectors of Pradera, El Ejido, La Victoria, La Banda, Tumibamba, Húmedo, among others, where she was evacuated. water and there are affected families.
Auki Tituaña, mayor of Cotacachi, made public his solidarity with the families affected by the intense rains and announced that employees and workers are helping the victims in order to reestablish basic services and attend to emergencies.
The mayor made a call to maintain calm in the population. Meanwhile, Pablo Jurado, prefect of Imbabura, ordered the deployment of operational personnel to attend to all the emergencies caused by the intense rains that do not stop in that area of the country.
“To the extent of our forces, we will continue to intervene so that the road infrastructure is enabled and the safety of the population fully guaranteed,” added the provincial authority.
The municipality set up a hotline to deal with emergencies. It transpired that the drinking water service in the sectors of La Banda, Yambaburo and Pilchibuela is suspended, as a result of the damage registered in the network due to the storm.
Jimmy Marcillo, coordinator of the Zone 1 Risk Management Service, declared that they await the evaluation of the Cotacachi Emergency Operations Committee (COE) to deliver humanitarian assistance to 12 affected families. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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