Chile, schools closed due to bad weather in 10 municipalities around Santiago

Classes will be suspended tomorrow in ten municipalities in the metropolitan area of ​​Santiago de Chile, in anticipation of possible damage caused by bad weather in an area already declared in a state of emergency.

The local meteorological agency predicts heavy rainfall in the capital and other regions, in a context marked this year by the particularly intense 'El Niño' climate phenomenon.

On Saturday, President José Antonio Kast decreed a state of "preventive climate emergency" in an area of ​​the country that extends from the Coquimbo region to the Biobío region and includes Santiago. The Minister of the Interior, Claudio Alvarado, announced the government's decision to "suspend lessons in ten municipalities of the metropolitan region (of the capital) which, at the moment, are already on red alert due to the risk of landslides". The armed forces are ready "to intervene on the front line in the face of the emergency, with personnel, equipment and means", added Alvarado.

Last week, heavy rains and floods hit the capital and its surroundings. All this after an unusual flood that caused six injuries in Las Condes, one of the municipalities affected by the school closures.