MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Deadly storm batters central and southern Chile

Ten people dead, nine disappeared and over 28.000 displaced is the primary Wednesday morning balance of the torrential rains which have been punishing central and south Chile since late Tuesday and are forecasted to continue.

Chilean authorities have declared the VIII Region, "catastrophe zone" with over 400 people reported homeless with total loss of property given the intensity of the rain and subsequent mudslides, reported the Chilean Emergency Office.

Two Carabineros (police) involved in rescue tasks that were sucked by strong river currents were also considered disappeared early Wednesday. However one of them was rescued live hanging to a tree trunk twelve hours later and thirty miles away from where he had been warning residents, mostly indigenous population living along the coast of the river Teno to immediately evacuate the area given the impending danger. The body of the second Carabinero was later recovered miles down stream.

In metropolitan Santiago over seven hundred people had to be rescued and or protected from the pouring rain and strong winds which fell hundreds of trees and electricity lines. Over 10.000 houses were left without electricity and several areas of the city are flooded with vehicles and public transport clogged in the muddy waters. Another 60 millimeters of rainfall are forecasted in the coming 24 hours.

The Chilean Emergency office has kept Yellow Alert in Regions IV, V, Metropolitan, VI, IX and X, with Red Alert in regions VII and VIII.

All ports in regions IV to X have been closed for small vessels and the same applies to all vessels in Valparaíso and San Antonio. The main Andes tunnel leading to Argentina has also been temporarily shut down because of snow and wind. In other mountain crossings traffic is restricted and all vehicles must transit with chains in wheels.