An unprecedented cold wave for a winter has affected South America in recent days. At least fifteen people died in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The governments of these countries had to restrict the supply of gas and trigger emergency accommodation plans.
“What happened this week in Chile, and more broadly in the southern cone of America, is a cold wave caused by the leak of a mass of polar air from Antarctica”said climatologist Raul Cordero, from the University of Santiago, to the France-Presse agency (AFP).
In Argentina, at least nine homeless people died because of the cold during this winter, according to the NGO Proyecto 7. In Buenos Aires, temperatures came down to-1.9 ° C Wednesday, which had not occurred for thirty-four years. Current cuts, caused by high demand, have left thousands of people without electricity for more than twenty-four hours in certain areas.
Cold record in Montevideo since 1967
Elsewhere in the country, snow has covered Atlantic beaches, like that of Miramar, 450 kilometers south of Buenos Aires, while the small Patagonian locality of Maquinchao recorded – 18 ° C Tuesday. The Argentinian government has suspended the gas supply of industries and service stations on Wednesday to ensure the gas supply of households.
Uruguay, where temperatures have gone below zero in certain regions, has decreed a “Red alert” Nationally after the death of six people, thus allowing the government to move homelessly to accommodation centers. In Montevideo, temperatures reached a maximum of 5.8 ° C on June 30, its lowest level since 1967, according to the meteorologist Mario Bidegain.
Chile has also activated accommodation plans for the homeless during the coldest days. The city of Chillan, 400 kilometers south of Santiago, recorded – 9.3 ° C, according to the direction of the meteorology of Chile. The snow fell into certain parts of the Atacama desert, the driest in the world, for the first time in a decade.
The situation in the region should improve in the coming days.
