The 2015 Northern Chile floods were a series of

mudflow A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...

s that affected much of northern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, product of flash floods from different rivers due to unseasonal heavy rains in the area, causing severe damage in several towns of the

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American wars ...

Atacama The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the w ...

and

Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than ...

regions. Flooding in Chile and Peru resulted from an unusual

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Northern ...

which moved across the Andes, bringing heavy rainfall to the region. The National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry (ONEMI) has reported more than 27,413 people affected, 5,585 people on shelters and more than 300 isolated due to roads destruction. 26 people died during the mudflow and 101 are officially missing, although it is expected that these numbers will increase as contact is reestablished with remote communities. Preliminary figures show that property damage reaches more than 28,000 houses, of those 105 are completely destroyed, and at least 5,900 present severe damages.

State of emergency

On March 25, near the 17:00 (UTC 3) hours, and due to the serious events due to flooding, the president of Chile,

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

declared Constitutional State of Exception Catastrophe throughout the Region of Atacama, where about 320,000 people, mainly settled in the cities of Copiapó and reside Vallenar. This state means that the Armed Forces of Chile take control of the area to protect and maintain public order in the affected area. The officer in charge is Chief Lieutenant Colonel Marcel Urrutia Caro, belonging to the Army Chile. Hours later a state of emergency was extended to the city of Antofagasta. President Michelle Bachelet is in the areas affected by floods since March 25. Chañaral visited on March 26, and that same day was decreed curfew across the Atacama region since 23:00 to 6:00 hours (UTC −3) . The March 26 were deployed Marines in Chañaral to contain looting registered in some shops during the day. The authorities and citizens reported cases of speculation and hoarding of food and staples. The government announced a lawsuit against those conducting unjustified price increases, and in supermarkets and service stations rationed the sale of certain products and fuels. In La Serena and Coquimbo the stock of bottled water scarcity product sold out due to problems in processing water Elqui river. The Chilean Navy sent to the port of Chañaral the Rancagua and Chacabuco barges emergency vehicles, supplies and Marines, along with the ship Sergeant Aldea. The government allocated 1.1 billion Chilean peso for the reconstruction.

References

External links

1 April 2015 flooding video
CBC News. {{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Chile floods and mudflow, 2015 2015 floods in South America Floods in Chile 2015 in Chile 2015 meteorology Landslides in Chile Landslides in 2015 March 2015 events in South America Weather events in Chile

State of emergency

See also

References

External links