The heaviest rains to hit Chile’s northern desert regions in 20 years have left at least two people dead and 24 missing as the torrential downpours caused mudslides and rivers to breach their banks, leaving thousands of residents stranded.
The Chilean National Office of Emergency of the Chilean Ministry of the Interior, which is known by its Spanish acronym, ONEMI, reported early yesterday that nearly 61,000 people were without power and almost 50,000 lacked drinking water in the usually arid regions of Coquimbo, Atacama and Antofagasta.
Television images and photographs on social media Web sites such as Twitter showed muddy rivers rushing through city streets, bridges washed away, flooded buildings, including a hospital, and even some towns that had been partially wiped out.
Photo: AFP
ONEMI said that one person in Antofagasta was electrocuted on the street, while a mudslide killed another person in Atacama. Another 24 people were missing.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet traveled to affected areas to assess damage and help lead rescue efforts.
“We’re doing everything humanly possible to get to where [those affected by the catastrophe] are as quickly as possible,” Bachelet said.
Photo: AFP
Chilean Minister of the Interior Rodrigo Penailillo on Wednesday said that a state of catastrophe had been declared and armed forces had been ordered to coordinate support operations and take control of public order in the worst affected areas.
The “very intense” rains were expected to continue for about another eight hours, he said.
Residents of several towns were asked to evacuate. Many roads were cut off and evacuations could only be done via air transport, Chilean Undersecretary of the Interior Mahmud Aleuy said.
The normally arid north is home to many of Chile’s largest copper mines, which account for about a third of global supply.
The torrential downpours in the world’s biggest copper producer have forced companies to suspend operations at several of the area’s major mines, putting an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of capacity of the metal on hold.
Fiber optics had been cut across the northern region, which was affecting communications and could affect flights, LATAM Airlines Group’s Chilean arm LAN said.
The sudden autumn downpour comes after an unusually hot, dry summer exacerbated an eight-year drought and left fields parched.
The dry conditions continue in the south of Chile, where firefighters are battling nearly 40 separate blazes burning in about 14,000 hectares, according to ONEMI.
The China Muerta national reserve and the Conguillio National Park, revered for its forests of thousand-year-old Araucarias, or monkey-puzzle trees, are among the areas affected by the flames.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of