Powerful winds leave trail of destruction in Chile

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Powerful winds leave trail of destruction in Chile

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Winds up to 180 kmh lashed out Chile's southern city of Punta Arenas, forcing flights suspension.

27 July,2012 04:48 am

Chiles southern city of Punta Arenas is lashed by winds of up to 111 mph (180 kmh) - forcing the suspension of flights.Strong winds in excess of 100 mph battered the southern coastal city of Punta Arenas on Thursday (July 25) causing serious disruption and prompting airlines to cancel flights to other parts of the country.Residents of Punta Arenas also lost power while one building lost its entire roof to the gales.Its extremely strong, yes, its extremely strong. Its lifting off the roofs, said one unidentified Punta Arenas resident.Two LAN airline flights were turned away from the President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo as the airport was forced to cancel flights.Punta Arenas usually experiences strong winds in Chiles summer months, but yesterdays weather was out of the ordinary according to the Navys Milidrag Milic.We are experiencing peak winds of 180 kilometres (111mph) per hours and sustained speeds of around 80 to 90 kilometres per hour, Milic said.