Rainstorms leave Chaitén in further ruin
Following a week of intense volcanic ash eruption from the Chaitén volcano, the rainstorms throughout the last four consecutive days have sealed the fate of the town of Chaitén. One would have thought that some rain would do the affected area some good – to help clear the air and wash off some inches of volcanic dust. By the second day of intense rain however, the only thing that was cleared up was the question of whether the worst was over. And the answer was a dismaying “no”. The ceaseless grey rain reduced visibility to a few metres, and when it finally let up after day two (Friday), what could be seen was the entire town of Chaitén converted into a silty floodplain. Roads had turned into navigable rivers and homes half sunk in grey water. The overwhelming amount of volcanic ash and debris that fell and mixed with the rainfall has quickly clogged the region’s watershed with liquid cement. “What arrives downstream isn’t water, rather a compact, gelatinous mass of pure volcanic mud that expands across the width of the river. Only a small stream of water runs along the riverbank,” comments a military worker in the area to a reporter for El Mercurio. The accumulation of volcanic mud in some areas is a metre high according to Division General Luis Lobos, military commander of rescue and monitoring efforts in the area.
