A mudslide sweeps away cars and a bus in Santiago after the wettest October on record

On Thursday, a torrent of water, mud and rocks swept through San Carlos de Apoquindo, in Santiago's Las Condes district, after a week of unprecedented rainfall. No lives were lost, but six individuals were injured, including a one-year-old child with a broken leg, reported by the presidential delegate for the Metropolitan Region. Over a thousand people were rescued or assisted, with some 200 hectares affected.

Mayor Catalina San Martín stated that around 2,000 homes sustained damage, with 55 experiencing serious habitability issues. Water and mud also infiltrated two clinics and the University of the Andes campus. Initially, police suspected an overflowing canal, but later, the national disaster prevention and response service attributed the incident to the activation of ravines and mountain watercourses that were dry most of the year.

The emergency was attributed to a blockage in an underground channel that drains a ravine, according to Germán Codina.

The emergency services did not issue evacuation alerts to mobile phones, stating it was a "sudden event." The agency declared a red alert in ten districts, resulting in school closures on Friday, and President Kast cancelled a ceremony to sign the reconstruction law to follow the emergency. This mudslide added to the list of record-breaking weather events driven by an atmospheric river intensified by El Niño.

A staggering 52 millimeters fell on October 6, the highest daily October total in more than a century, with a total of 74 millimeters accumulated over seven days, making this the wettest October on record, surpassing the previous record of 65 millimeters in 1987.