Residents of a flood-hit neighbourhood in Chile are living in fear of their homes collapsing at any moment because of a sinkhole caused by heavy rain.
Terrifying footage shows the building complex in Viña del Mar at risk of giving in as it stands precariously above a massive cavity caused by the storms blighting Chile over the past week.
Pictures show the damage caused by the sinkhole as sand swept through people’s homes and car parks.
About 150 people were evacuated from Viña del Mar. Pic: Reuters
Residents are living in fear following a week of heavy rains and floods. Pic: Reuters
Cars stuck in an underground car park. Pic: Reuters
Some 150 people have been evacuated from their homes in the coastal resort city, located northwest of Santiago, Chile’s capital.
The storms central and southern Chile over the past week have displaced thousands of people and closed schools.
More than 2,000 homes have been damaged and 60,000 have lost power.
Chile is vulnerable to natural disasters. Pic: Reuters
The situation is critical for those living around the sinkhole.
Pic: Reuters
Heavy winds caused a large tree to fall on a tractor, killing one person on Wednesday.
Authorities have declared a “disaster zone” across a large stretch of the country including Santiago and seven other provinces.
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Rescue efforts during Chile floods
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In the particularly hard-hit Bio Bio region south of Santiago, landslides crushed dozens of homes that had been evacuated hours earlier.
Footage released earlier this week shows emergency services wading through waist-high floods, using dinghies to rescue people and their pets.
Chile has some 52,195 miles (84,000km) of coastline, more than 1,250 rivers, and rugged topography with no more than 20% of its area being flat terrain, leaving it vulnerable to natural disasters and hindering rescue efforts.
