© AFP-JIJITowering waves pound the seacoast of Vina del Mar, on Saturday as a storm marked by strong winds and fierce downpours approaches from the Pacific Ocean hitting the Chilean coast.
At least five people have been killed in the torrential rains in Chile this weekend, officials said yesterday. Three people were reported killed in extreme northern Chile, which has been battered by powerful winds, torrential rains and mudslides. Two people died on Saturday in the cities of Valparaiso and Coquimbo.
Brigadier general Claudio Hernández Muñoz is in charge of coordinating the response to the storm, Interior Minister Jorge Burgos announced during a press conference at the National Emergency Management Office (Onemi) where he declared a Constitutional State of Exception — a measure that is designed to protect the stability and security of the country, or of a particular area, through the law, when exceptional situations occur.
Evacuations amid fatalities
About 1,000 people were evacuated in Tocopilla due to the mudslides caused by the heavy rains in a normally extremely dry area with very low annual rainfall.
A 4-year-old girl and two adults, including a 50-year-old woman, were killed in Tocopilla, Onemi director Ricardo Toro said.
View of villages close to Tocopilla affected by mud and floods northern Santiago de Chile, Chile 09 August 2015.
In the interests of public safety, authorities suspended the religious festival of San Lorenzo in the region of Tarapaca, where about 10,000 people had already gathered.
Thousands of homes were left without electricity in central and northern Chile, where strong winds and heavy rains caused extensive damage.
Strong waves destroyed more than 100 small boats in Coquimbo, a city located 458 kilometres north of Santiago, while Valparaiso and Viña del Mar were hit by nine-metre waves that damaged dozens of shops and new buildings on the waterfront.
The navy ordered several ports closed across Chile and the Valparaiso Metro was shut down for 48 hours due to flooding.
In Iquique, located 1,857 kilometres north of Santiago, the heavy rains triggered mudslides, cutting off several roads leading to rural areas, police said.
Undersecretary Mahmud Aleuy said the government has mobilized all possible forces to come to the aid of people in the north of the country, where the bad weather front hit affecting much of the country since Thursday night.
Copper industry impacted
The rains spelled more potential bad news for Chile's key copper mining industry, already hit by floods once this year.
State-owned Codelco, the world's top copper exporter, said it had suspended operations at Chuquicamata mine from around 2pm local time yesterday as a safety measure.
It did not report problems at El Teniente, its biggest mine.
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