The heavy rain recorded in Viña del Mar caused a new sinkhole in the Cochoa sector, Reñaca, meters from the Kandinsky building.
The landslide caused a massive evacuation of the Miramar Reñaca building. Residents of 57 apartments had to leave their homes amid the emergency.
Carabineros reported that around 10:50 p.m. they went to Avenida Borgoño in the amount of 17,570. A truck from a construction company working on the first sinkhole was buried. In addition, a vessel is about to fall into the sea through the chasm.
“The matrix that connects all these buildings is collapsing,” said a woman as she left her residence. The uniformed policeman showed that the structure made of rain water channel on Costa de Montemar Street completely separated and fell into the sinkhole. The emergency also created a gas leak.
Personnel from the presidential delegation, Sernapred, firefighters, and others, arrived at the scene.
Fire Commander Patricio Brito said: “We were informed of a second sinkhole, before which the Carabineros, together with the firefighters, continued to evacuate. Currently it has reached within two meters of a swimming pool in Miramar Reñaca building. It is very complex, but it has been evacuated.
“It was decided to do a preventive evacuation because of a danger that appeared after a new sinkhole close to what we experienced a few weeks ago. There were 57 departments that were evacuated. All the people went to the relatives’ house and good health,” said the delegate of the president of the Region of Valparaíso, Sofía González, in the evening.
In the morning, with the sun shining, delegate González stated that the causes of the new sinkhole are “something that the teams are still investigating.”
The regional authority assured that an “unusual rain event” was recorded in the city: 8 millimeters fell in 30 minutes and that is something that happens once every 10 years.
“According to the information that the technicians have given me up to this point, what will happen is that in the face of the extraordinary rain and soil that has already been destroyed, the work will collapse because of this movement of the earth that started in the lower part of the dune.” he added.
González explained that a new security perimeter has been established in the sector.
On August 22, before the frontal system of those days, part of the slope where the exclusive Kandinsky building was located took off, endangering the inhabitants.
About twelve families were evacuated due to the risk of collapse. The emergency, announced at the time, was the result of the rupture of the rainwater collector located under the building, which on Saturday created a sand slide towards Borgoño Avenue.
The event has generated many works and studies. On September 6, the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) reported that it has done work to divert rainwater in the Reñaca Norte collector in Viña del Mar.
Several departments are located in the dune sector, which unites the municipalities of Viña del Mar and Concón.
