State of disaster in Chile after heavy downpours

State of disaster in Chile after heavy downpours
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full screen A woman walks past a mural in Chile’s capital Santiago on Thursday. Photo: Matias Basualdo/AP/TT

Several hundred homes have been damaged after very heavy downpours in southern and central Chile. The rain continues and the authorities have declared a state of emergency in five regions, with a total of 14 million inhabitants.

The capital, Santiago, has so far been spared the worst of the rainfall, but despite this, the weather service has recorded as much rain there as in a normal June.

Large parts of the affected area have experienced severe drought for 15 years. Worst hit by the rainfall is the city of Curanilahue, 60 miles south of the capital, which in a few hours received more rain than in all of 2023.

President Gabriel Boric, who is on a state visit to Sweden, warns that the heavy rain will continue. He also states that one person died after a lamppost was blown over.

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