Santiago, Chile, October 9 (askanews) – A violent flood has submerged the streets of the suburbs of Santiago, Chile, causing at least six injuries, including a one-year-old baby, and leaving several people stranded, according to local authorities. The powerful flood, triggered by heavy rains, mainly affected the Las Condes neighborhood in the northeast of the Chilean capital of 7 million inhabitants. It swept away dozens of vehicles trapped in mud, rocks, and debris, and the streets turned into swollen rivers. “This rain was completely unexpected; we just got through a very harsh winter with a lot of rain.
"We know that El Niño is intensifying," Catalina San Martín, mayor of Las Condes, told reporters. The unusual rainfall is occurring as part of this phenomenon, which is raising the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean and altering wind and rainfall patterns across the planet. According to the United Nations, this could be the strongest El Niño in fifty years.
Askanews