Drizzle causes emergency in Chilean desert city

[question everything]

Source: AP

SANTIAGO, Chile – In one of the driest regions on earth, even a drizzle can cause an emergency.

Less than 100th of an inch (about 0.2 millimeters) of rain fell on the Chilean port city of Iquique Monday afternoon, accompanied by moderate winds of about 10 mph (17 kph), according to the country's weather service. That was enough to knock out power to several neighborhoods and to damage the roofs of 4,000 precarious dwellings, Gov. Miguel Silva said Tuesday. Schools were closed Tuesday so that officials can repair the damage. There were no reports anyone was injured.

The city of 170,000 people in northern Chile is in the heart of the barren Atacama Desert, squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It averages about 0.02 inch (0.6 millimeter) of rain a year, according to University of Chile meteorologists.

(snip)

With little water to worry about, many of Iquique's poor live in homes covered with a bits of wood, plaster or even cardboard that are easily damaged by a little rain and wind. Many have no slope to let water run off.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_chile_rare_rain

[XemaSab]

1. It's horrible that this is a disaster for them

but at the same time it reminds me of LA... a little rain and all the TV stations are going crazy. :P

[Posteritatis]

11. LA's underwater by comparison to that region. (nt)

[troubledamerican]

2. Mummification occurs naturally

in parts of the Atacama Desert. The dead do not decompose, because it's so dry.

[Delphinus]

3. Wow!

I never would have thought ...

[Winterblues]

4. I do not understand how 1/100th of an inch of rain could damage a roof.

Even roofs made of straw should withstand that tiny amount of water..:shrug:

[slackmaster]

5. They use bricks of salt to build homes there

:hi:

[Brother Buzz]

7. With bird guano mortar?

[Posteritatis]

10. You'd have to leave the earth's atmosphere to find a dryer place than the Atacama

They mention paper and cardboard as building materials there; such things make sense in a place where the only weather is "still and dry," but these very, very occasional drizzles cause problems.

[alfredo]

6. Here's where the Atacama Desert swim team trains.

It's actually a thermal pool

[damntexdem]

8. I once crossed the Atacama on a bus.

The Catepillar treadmarkss were still visible from the building of the highway.

It is DRY there, and not a lot of wind.

[alfredo]

12. It's got to be a photographers dream. I'd think Astronomers would want

to set up shop there if they haven't already.

[Bill McBlueState]

14. we have!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Astronomical_observatories_in_Chile

[KamaAina]

9. I should probably move to Iquique

all rain does for me is make it difficult to get to the bus stop, the store, what have you. Even the sight of our famous rainbows makes me quicken my step as though it were starting to sleet in NYC in November!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. That much snow in DC would have the same effect.

The stores would be cleared of bread, milk, and toilet paper in a matter of minutes, and the medians of highways would be filled with overturned SUVs.