For two days, intense rains have been falling on several regions of central and southern Chile, a country that has been hit by a severe drought for more than a decade. In Santiago, the inhabitants of the capital have to deal with the consequences of bad weather: blocked roads, floods or even power cuts.
With our correspondent in Santiago, Naila Derroisne
Three people surrounded by water and taking refuge on the roof of a car, or even a road submerged by a river. These are some of the images from yesterday in Chile. It had been 20 years since the center of the country had seen such rains.
The Mapocho and Maipo rivers that cross the capital almost overflowed when usually a simple trickle of water flows there. But in certain sectors of the Metropolitan Region, rivers have indeed overflowed, penetrating inside houses, or cutting certain roads.
Bad water quality
This Friday, June 23, at the end of the afternoon, several hundred families were still isolated, for lack of accessible roads. In other places, the inhabitants had to be evacuated to prevent possible overflows of rivers.
Due to poor water quality, the capital’s main supplier, Agua Andinas, announced a giant water cut today early afternoon. It lasted 24 hours. More than thirty municipalities will be affected, in the heart of the capital, which represents millions of people.
At the end of the day on Friday, Chileans were already storming the supermarkets to stock up on drinking water. According to forecasts, the rains should continue to fall this Saturday and major water cuts are to be expected.
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