The government warned that the frontal system that will affect much of the south-central part of the country during the coming week could present conditions similar to those of the last storm, and therefore called on municipalities to adopt preventive measures over this weekend.
Following a national technical meeting led by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Máximo Pavez, the director of Senapred, Alicia Cebrián, and the representative of Chile's Meteorological Directorate, Arnaldo Zúñiga, the latter explained that the phenomenon carries a significant amount of moisture, although it is not associated with an atmospheric river.
"The truth is that the pattern, or how the troposphere is organized at this moment, is very similar to the previous events," he said.
The rainfall would begin on Sunday and intensify during the week, with its greatest concentration between Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday morning. Given the possibility of electrical storms, hail, and wind gusts, Meteorology will evaluate over the weekend whether to raise the current advisory to an alert for intense rainfall in a short period.
Facing this scenario, Pavez asked the municipalities of the areas that could be affected to hold their communal Disaster Risk Management Committees (Cogrid) on Saturday or Sunday.
"This weekend must be used by the authorities to lead and direct good planning, thinking...
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The government warned that the frontal system that will affect much of the central-southern part of the country over the coming week could present conditions similar to those of the last storm, and therefore called on municipalities to adopt preventive measures over this weekend. Following a national technical meeting led by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Máximo Pavez, the director of Senapred, Alicia Cebrián, and the representative of the Directorate of Meteorology of Chile, Arnaldo Zúñiga, the latter explained that the phenomenon carries a significant load of moisture, although it is not associated with an atmospheric river. "The truth is that the pattern, or how the troposphere is organized at this moment, is very similar to the previous events," he said. The rainfall would begin on Sunday and intensify during the week, with its greatest concentration between Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday morning. Given the possibility of electrical storms, hail, and wind gusts, Meteorology will evaluate over the weekend whether to raise the current advisory to an alert for intense rainfall in a short period. Facing this scenario, Pavez asked the municipalities of the areas that could be affected to hold their communal Disaster Risk Management Committees (Cogrid) on Saturday or Sunday. "This weekend must be used by the authorities to lead and direct good planning, keeping in mind that some of the conditions that occurred just this past Tuesday could repeat themselves," he warned. For her part, Cebrián reported that preventive early alerts were declared between Atacama and Los Lagos and that a request was made to reinforce critical points in the communes. In addition, electric companies were asked to strengthen their contingency plans and emergency brigades in case of possible supply outages. Asked about the risk of new flash floods, the director of Senapred stated that "there is special concern for those located in pre-Andean foothill areas and in places where landslides have been recorded in the past," specifying that monitoring will not be limited to the Metropolitan Region, but will also cover other areas of the country. Finally, the authorities called on the population to stay informed through official channels, check roofs and clean drainage channels, and avoid exposure during episodes of intense rainfall and electrical storms.