Thousands of victims due to intense rains in Santiago de Chile and the center of the country

Thousands of people have been affected by the heavy torrential rains that have hit the central region of Chili and since this morning they have fallen strongly in the capital, where they have already caused evictions due to flooding, interruptions in the electricity supply and traffic problems and have forced the suspension of classes in schools and universities.

One of the most dramatic situations is experienced on the banks of the Curalinaue River, in the Biobio region, one of the most affected; where more than 5,000 people have been forced to abandon their homes due to the overflowing waters and the lack of conditions to control the runaway riverbed.

Several neighbors have denounced before television cameras that beyond the force of nature and climate change, the tragedy has its origins in the extractivist economic system, since most of the land belongs to large logging companies and barely There are building areas beyond the river beds.

Another 400 families also had to flee their homes on the same Tuesday due to the overflowing of another of the hundreds of rivers that exist in the central regions of Chile.

Further north, in the neighboring region of Maule, a man died during the early hours of the morning after being hit by an electricity pole that was defeated by the wind, which in some areas of the country is exceeding 80 kilometers per hour.

In the capital, where 40% of the Chilean population lives, the large avenues of the most affluent areas have been transformed into torrents, large pockets of water have accumulated in parks and gardens, while in irregular towns or camps, mudflats and the landslides have left dozens of people without shelter in their precarious homes.

At 8:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), more than 20,000 homes were without electricity supply in the capital’s communes of Isla de Maipo, Melipilla and Padre Hurtado, while dozens of basements were flooded in the center of the capital, some level crossings cut off, several tunnels disabled and numerous traffic lights turned off.

From Germany, where he is as part of a European tour that began on Sunday, the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, urged citizens to apply the recommendations of the emergency services and respect the state of climate alert, which extends also to the coastal regions of Viña del Mar and Valparaiso and even the northern area of ​​Coquimbo.

”The responsibility that we do not have fatalities, that the damage is as minor as possible, is shared. From the State we have to fulfill our role, but it is also important that families and people who receive alerts comply with the instructions of the authorities. This is key when it comes to saving lives,” he stressed.

Weather forecasts indicate that the frontal system, in the form of an extra-tropical cyclone coming from the Pacific Ocean, will last until Saturday and only in the capital, one of the worst prepared for rain in Latin America, will it leave more than 85 millimeters of precipitation per square meter.

In addition, strong winds are expected with gusts of more than 50 kilometers per hour that can knock down trees, electric poles and even other urban furniture and roofs, so the Ministry of the Interior and the Risk and Misfortune Prevention Service (Senapred) The population has been urged to stay in their homes.