A major powder cycle went through South America over the weekend, but people in the lower elevations saw depressing scenes. In what is being described as the worst flooding in the past decade for the country, Chile has been dealing with significant wet weather. According to Al Jazeera, at least two people are dead, over four hundred people are now homeless, and 1002 individuals were evacuated by the floods.
While some ski resorts, like Portillo, saw snow from this system, other ski resorts haven’t been as lucky. On Monday, Nevados de Chillán released a statement describing the damage they faced from the rain. Avalanches damaged two ski trails and three bridges. The infrastructure around the ski resort has also been mangled due to river overflows and cuts to the road.
Here’s the official statement translated thanks to my good friend, Google Translate:
“In recent days, the south-central zone of the country has faced an unprecedented rainstorm and the Nevados de Chillán sector has not been exempt from this phenomenon (approximately 900mm of rain in 4 days).
During the emergency, the safety, road and maintenance teams have remained working to mitigate the effects on infrastructure.
The large amount of rain received, in a short time, has caused different types of inconveniences at the level of connectivity and infrastructure, which forces us to evaluate, clean, and recovery of the damaged, road cuts, river overflows and avalanches that affected the center are being withdrawn, in terms of hotels, the servicesare being replaced as of today essentials including thermal water, in the ski center the avalanche and water currents damaged two drags (novice and novice) and 3 bridges that are already in the process of repair, the rest of the Infrastructure at the first inspection is without damage.
The safety of workers and visitors is necessary and essential condition to be able to function. The circumstances created by nature do not allow us to provide a service and function optimally, therefore, within the next 15 days, we will gradually enabling.
Nevados de Chillán and its team will work without haste, but without pause, and with all their strength to safely restore the operation of the services; Since yesterday we have the machinery and qualified personnel for the maintenance, cleaning, and improvements that are necessary.
The situation is challenging, but, as always, we have confidence in the tremendous human team at Chillán Snowy.
We will inform you of all changes and advances through our social networks.
Nevados de Chillán expresses solidarity with the commune of Pinto, the Region of Ñuble, and the thousands of people in the country who have been affected by the consequences of the storm.”
In the meantime, work is underway on cleaning up the mountain. In a video posted on Monday by Nevados De Chillán, they have been doing some tree clearance, moving dirt around, and lift maintenance in response to the flooding. ¡Vamos Nevados de Chillán!
Image/Video Credits: Nevados de Chillán
