A severe storm system that began on 15 July has battered northern Chile with what officials describe as the most intense and widespread rainfall in two decades. The government raised the death toll to 10 on Monday and declared a state of catastrophe, mobilizing the military to reach thousands of stranded residents.

Scale of the disaster

The regions of Coquimbo and Atacama, where heavy rain is rare, bore the brunt of the system. Alicia Cebrián, director of the national emergency service Senapred, reported that 10 people had been killed, 4 were missing, 17 were injured, and 2,422 people had been registered as affected. Roughly 2,200 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged, leaving more than 100,000 people cut off after swollen rivers washed out roads connecting dozens of villages.

“We count ten dead, four missing and 17 injured. There are 2,422 people affected.”

In rural parts of Coquimbo, approximately 460 km north of Santiago, soldiers used tractors to reach people trapped by floodwaters and evacuated residents by helicopter from rooftops, local media footage showed. Cristóbal Juliá, governor of Coquimbo, described neighborhoods covered in mud and water.

“There are neighborhoods covered in mud and water, flooded. People have lost everything: their home, their belongings. They are very distressed.”

Infrastructure under strain

The floodwaters triggered landslides and power outages that cut off drinking water across the region. Andrés Nazer, regional director of water utility Aguas del Valle, said the situation had exceeded all forecasts and that staff had to be evacuated from some facilities. The energy ministry reported that roughly 150,000 people remained without electricity nationwide. As a preventive measure, dozens of ports partially restricted operations last week owing to heavy swells and wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h.

Extreme precipitation

Interior minister Máximo Pavez told reporters that a full month's worth of rain fell in a single hour on Sunday, calling the episode "abnormal and extreme." Arnaldo Zúñiga of Chile's meteorological office told Agence France-Presse that the country had not experienced a storm this large or this intense in 20 years.

“The amount of rain that usually falls in a month fell yesterday in one hour, which qualifies this event as abnormal and extreme precipitation.”

Government response

President José Antonio Kast declared the constitutional state of catastrophe for part of the north on Monday, a measure that authorizes military deployment, travel restrictions, and faster delivery of humanitarian aid. He said the situation in Coquimbo and Huasco province had worsened, prompting the activation of the emergency powers.