Mass evacuations, cars washed away in Chilean flood disaster
Raging floodwaters have caused major damage to buildings and vehicles and led to a disaster declaration in a regional Chilean commune at the foot of the Andes mountain range.
Parts of the Las Condes town, in the western outskirts of the Chilean capital Santiago, became inundated on Thursday, local time, according to the country's meteorological authorities.
Cars were swept away or destroyed and infrastructure uprooted by the flash flooding. (Reuters: Pablo Sanhueza)
A central weather station located near Santiago has recorded more than 60mm of rain in the past four days, the national meteorological agency reported.
A "red alert" warning has been issued by the Chilean disaster agency Senapred for at least 10 regional areas spanning an area of about 50 kilometres, encouraging people to leave immediately.
The agency also confirmed at least six people had been reported as injured in the flash flooding and taken to various medical centres.
At least 11 aged care residents and the staff and clients of a university health clinic in Las Condes were evacuated, while 60 children were sheltering inside a technical college, Senapred said.
Newly-elected Chilean President José Antonio Kast Rist later announced that the government's disaster management committee had met to discuss the flooding.
After the meeting, a "zone of catastrophe" was declared for Las Condes in a bid to "allocate all resources to address the emergency", Mr Kast said in a post on X.
"We are facing an emergency of rapid activation in Las Condes with grave impacts to vehicles and homes in some streets, produced by flooding of water and mud," he said.
Mauricio Lorca, the national director of Chile's Geology and Mining Service, said authorities were calling the flooding a "flash flow" phenomenon.
A public bus became trapped in floodwater and debris after being washed down a major street near the capital Santiago. (Reuters: Pablo Sanhueza)
"[It] means a rapid flood of water that is generated in a very short time, and that drags a large amount of sediment and materials that can affect riverbeds, rivers or slopes."
The Chilean Army also announced it had deployed specialist vehicles, infantry soldiers and emergency response teams to parts of Las Condes to help with clean-up and rescue efforts.
Some residents sought to escape the rising floodwaters on foot. (Reuters: Pablo Sanhueza)
Videos shared online by residents impacted by the disaster showed dark floodwater rapidly flowing through General Blanche, one of the largest roads in Las Condes.
In one of the clips, several people could be seen clinging to an open escape hatch on the roof of a red public bus as it was washed away.
Chilean police doorknocking residents during evacuations also helped some people cross floodwaters. (Reuters: Pablo Sanhueza)
The Chilean Meteorological Department also issued a thunderstorm alert warning for regions between an area north of San Felipe, through Santiago, to south of the town of Linares.
All school classes were suspended on Thursday, local time, according to Santiago's regional metropolitan transport body, which also strongly advised against personal travel in nine of the impacted areas.
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