Flooding In Arica, Punta Arenas, Chile & Peru. March 14th 2012

[JennyLeez]

Summarised:
12th March 2012
Landslide and flooding in Peru
-Following the national emergency management office, three people are missing due to landslide in a remote village in the southern Peruvian region of Arequipa
-Due to flooding of the river Huaycoloro, 47 houses collapsed, 8 injured and one child is reported to be missing so far
-Hailstorm reported in districts of Tiabaya Socabaya, Hunter, Chacarato, and Cerro Colorado
-Three days ago, heavy rains in the upper Caravelí caused landslide killing three people and left 150 families homeless in the town of Chaparral

13th March 2012
Flash flood in Northern Chile
-About 300 people evacuated from Valley of Azapa after flooding of the Rio San Jose in the town of Arica
-Heavy rainfall with flooding knocked down bridges and blocked the rail line to neighboring Peru
-Red Alert is declared for the Province of Magallanes. Also for the Province of Tamarugal
-1,500 customers in Punta Arenas coastal remained without power

14th March 2012
-More than 30 homes damaged and about 67 people are living in municipal shelters
One fatality reported so far. A 21 years old,  fell into the flooded river on Monday and has been pronounced dead.
-It is estimated that in less than 30 hours the downpour was equivalent to a third of the whole annual rainfall, causing the flash floods
-Crews from he Public Works Department are working to drill holes in the Magellan Strait contention wall for the evacuation of water
-The area under flood waters is estimated in 97 hectares.

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[Rwood]

Repeating a comment I made elsewhere:

Ironically, the flooding of the San Jose river in the Arica area is not due to local rainfall - Arica, the world's driest major town, has not recorded any rainfall this year up to yesterday, at least. There must have been major rainfall well inland in the Andean region.

[JennyLeez]

Sorry Rupert I have missed you post obviously
I have been following this unusual rainfall for the last 3 days and decided to post it up. Correct they nornally have very little rain....   here is what I read Monday:

'Santiago de Chile, Mar 12 (Prensa Latina) The cities of Arica and Punta Arenas, located in the north and south of Chile respectively, are in a state of emergency on Monday due to floods caused by heavy rainfall.

  In Arica, capital of the region of Magallanes and Antartica, "people have lived moments of horror" in the last few hours, noted Councilor of the locality Vladimiro Mimica.

Mimica underlined that Las Minas River, located downtown, overflowed due to the rain, unusual in the zone.

"We are surprised because rain is not very common in this city; Arica is a cold, windy and snowy city, but it rarely rains. About 400 millimeters of rain fall in a regular year and already 120 millimeters have fallen so far", the councilor highlighted.

Nearly 100 people have been evacuated due to the floods and that figure could increase since weather forecasts suggest that bad conditions will continue.'


Prensa Latina

[Rwood]

Jenny, they have the wrong city name for the southern region - Arica is in the far north of Chile at about latitude 18 - warm, slightly humid and rainless. Someone must have translated something wrongly. Punta Arenas is the capital of the southern region.