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Antofagasta Mayor: City Can No Longer Ignore Heavy Rains, Floods
🇨🇱 Chile /Environment & Climate

Antofagasta Mayor: City Can No Longer Ignore Heavy Rains, Floods

From Cooperativa · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Antofagasta, Chile, is ill-prepared for increasingly frequent heavy rains and flash floods, according to Mayor Sacha Razmilic.
  • The city averages only 0.3 millimeters of rain annually, but recent years have seen much higher amounts, with significant flood events in 2015 and 2017.
  • Razmilic warns that Antofagasta can no longer ignore the threat, as similar weather patterns affect northern Chile and the Atacama region.

Antofagasta, Chile, can no longer afford to disregard the growing threat of heavy rainfall and flash floods, Mayor Sacha Razmilic stated. The city, which typically receives a mere 0.3 millimeters of rain annually, has experienced increasingly frequent and severe weather events.

Antofagasta has an annual average rainfall of 0.3 or three millimeters, but that's in years when it doesn't rain at all. Every 10 years it rains 20 (millimeters).

— Sacha RazmilicMayor of Antofagasta, explaining the city's low average rainfall and the significance of recent heavy precipitation.

Razmilic pointed to past incidents, noting that Antofagasta suffered significant flash floods in 2015 and 2017. He emphasized that these events, along with similar phenomena in the Atacama region, indicate a northward shift in weather patterns. "The city is not prepared for the rains, but we have to start getting used to the idea," Razmilic told Cooperativa.

So, the city is not prepared for the rains, but we have to start getting used to the idea, because in 2015 and 2017 we had strong climatic events, both with flash floods in Tocopilla and Taltal. The city can no longer ignore these kinds of things.

— Sacha RazmilicMayor of Antofagasta, warning about the city's lack of preparedness and the increasing frequency of flood events.

He explained that while Antofagasta has historically been spared the worst, the changing climate means the city must adapt. The lack of adequate storm drains highlights the vulnerability. "Antofagasta has an annual average rainfall of 0.3 or three millimeters, but that's in years when it doesn't rain at all. Every 10 years it rains 20 (millimeters)," he said, underscoring the deviation from historical norms.

We also have the events that are happening in (the Atacama Region), for example; that means the fronts are entering further north. So far, as Antofagasta, we have been a little saved, but the city that does not have storm drains.

— Sacha RazmilicMayor of Antofagasta, highlighting the changing weather patterns affecting northern Chile and the city's vulnerability due to lack of infrastructure.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Cooperativa in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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