Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 03/14/2012 - 14:47

Hi Mrs. Herrmann, hope you can get home safely! Is that amount of rain/flooding customary for this time of year, or is it a rare event? Does the geography around Punta Arenas cause these floods? Its odd, we haven't heard anything about it up here.

Hope you get off that ship!

~Anna W.

Nell Herrmann

Hi Anna,It's not a typical event. Punta Arenas is windy and rainy during the
winter, but everyone was caught off guard by the flood. Local people
told me the last flood like this was about 20 years ago. The lower
lying parts of town are the areas that flooded. The pier area was in
especially rough shape because a seawall collapsed. I was able to get
out yesterday and am in Detroit now about to catch my flight to State
College.
See you soon!
-Ms. Herrmann