SANTIAGO, Chile — A devastating seven-day rainfall event amplified by El Niño has wreaked unprecedented havoc across Chile, leaving at least 10 people dead and forcing emergency response teams into a frantic race on Tuesday to reach more than 100,000 residents cut off by destructive flash floods. The catastrophe ranks among the most severe weather-driven disasters the South American nation has faced in 30 years, with impacts rippling across multiple regions far beyond the hardest-hit northern zones.
Torrential downpours paired with gusty strong winds have continued to pummel the normally arid northern regions of Atacama and Coquimbo, an area unaccustomed to such extreme volumes of precipitation. On Monday, President José Antonio Kast’s government officially declared a state of emergency across the affected zone to mobilize additional resources and streamline response efforts.
As of Tuesday’s latest official update, disaster authorities confirmed that alongside the 10 fatalities, the storms have left 16 people with injuries and forced more than 4,000 residents to flee their damaged or destroyed homes. Of those displaced, 1,031 are currently sheltering in temporary emergency evacuation centers set up by local officials. Tens of thousands more residents across impacted areas have been left without access to critical utilities, including electrical power and safe drinking water, worsening the humanitarian crisis on the ground.
Preliminary infrastructure assessments show the extreme rainfall has completely destroyed 81 residential properties and damaged more than 20,000 others, leaving many uninhabitable. Chile’s national disaster response agency, Senapred, has issued hundreds of mandatory evacuation warnings across 10 of the country’s 16 administrative regions, as flood risks extend far beyond the initial storm zone.
Swollen, overflowing riverbanks and flood-washed out roads have left 104,271 people stranded, unable to evacuate to safer ground or receive emergency supplies. Senapred head Alicia Cebrián issued an urgent warning that even once the rain stops, major flood risks will persist for hours after the storm system moves out.
“River levels do not necessarily rise at the same time precipitation is falling,” Cebrián explained to reporters Tuesday. “Water accumulates in the foothill areas, which means river levels can continue rising even hours after the storm system has passed.”
Climate scientists and meteorologists have traced the extreme deluge back to the recent return of El Niño, a naturally occurring recurring climate pattern centered in the tropical Pacific Ocean that shifts global weather patterns. The phenomenon pushes ocean surface temperatures higher and amplifies the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events across the globe. For southern South America, El Niño is historically linked to significantly higher than average rainfall, creating the conditions that led to this week’s catastrophic flooding.