Journalist Macarena Pizarro was unable to anchor Tuesday's main edition of Chilevisión Noticias. She was stuck for more than an hour on Autopista Central amid traffic gridlock caused by rain and flooding in the Metropolitan Region.
According to BioBioChile, the anchor described her situation in a live phone call with the newscast. Her colleague Daniel Matamala introduced the call and said she was "trying to be patient" in her car.
Pizarro explained that she left home "a little after 16:30", when the first videos of hail in the capital began circulating. She thought conditions would get worse and decided to head to the station immediately to avoid congestion.
She made no progress on the journey. "I've spent more than four hours trying to get to the station using different routes. I've gone back onto the highways, I've tried to get off. All the surrounding roads were gridlocked," she said.
The journalist explained that she was heading south on Autopista Central near Vivaceta, where the highway connects with Costanera Norte. "I've been here for an hour and a half, and I'm only just approaching Rondizzoni, which is supposedly the area where there's a closure," she said.
During the broadcast, the call dropped because of signal problems. The same issue had affected several people in the capital since the rain began, according to BioBioChile.
When the connection was restored, Pizarro described conditions on the highway. She said she could see no emergency personnel or information to guide drivers. "All the motorists are at a standstill, trying to be patient," she commented.
She also expressed surprise because, up to that point, she had seen no broken-down cars or emergency vehicles caught in the congestion. "Terrible, with such a feeling of helplessness. It's like being in a movie," she said.
The website Fotech reported the same account and likewise said the journalist had been unable to reach the station despite trying different alternative routes.
The episode occurred on a day marked by the storm in Santiago, which also caused a mudslide in Las Condes. The sources provide no official figures on flooded areas, road closures or people affected in the Metropolitan Region.
Ultimately, Soledad Agüero replaced Pizarro as anchor of Chilevisión Noticias through the end of the newscast.
