Heavy Rains Cause Flooding in Colombia

Heavy rains over the past few days have caused floods in various parts of Colombia, with one person currently missing. The most serious consequence occurred in the municipality of Soledad in the department of Atlantico.

In the department of Santander, in the east of the country, there were also serious dangers caused by two rivers overflowing in a rural area of the municipality of Tona, 60 kilometers from the regional capital, Bucaramanga. One hundred families were affected by this disaster.

The month of May means the real start of the rainy season in Colombia. Although authorities have announced that rainfall will be normal for this time of the year, local and regional governments have been asked to make plans to avoid landslides and damage to people and infrastructure.

Heavy rains and floods cause one person to go missing

Of all the consequences, the most serious so far is that a 54 year old man was swept away by a flow of water in the urban area of Soledad, near Barranquilla, in the department of Atlantico. According to the authorities, the man, identified as Raul Valencia, was sitting on the bank of a stream and was caught by surprise by the rapidly rising waters.

Finally, the man fell into the creek. Although he tried to get out, the force of the water prevented him from doing so. Everything happened too quickly for anyone to able to help him, and the water soon swept him away and took him out of sight. The authorities are still looking for his body.

According to reports, the person in question was in a state of drunkenness and ignored the warnings of neighbors about the danger of staying so close to the water. “According to information obtained by the local Committee for Risk Attention and Prevention, he was apparently intoxicated and laid down on the road without foreseeing the onslaught of the waters of the El Salao stream, in the Villa de las Moras sector,” says the communiqué from the Mayor’s Office of Soledad.

Furthermore, at least twenty houses in the La Cordialidad neighborhood of Barranquilla were affected by heavy rains.

Heavy rains cause serious material damage in Santander

In another region, heavy rains caused serious material damage and affected a hundred families, although fortunately without any casualties. In a rural area of the municipality of Tona, in the department of Santander, floods overflowed the town’s crops and even swept away several houses.

The tragedy could have been even greater since many people were sleeping when the water began to enter the houses. The affected people had to work for hours to remove the water from their homes and commercial premises. The rural sector of Berlin went without drinking water for hours.

The mayor of the municipality, Jesus Gutierrez, also explained that “there were also two bridges that were washed away by the water,” leaving some sectors cut off. In the municipality of San Andres, in the same department of Santander, a bridge that connects five villages to the urban area also collapsed, leaving thousands of people isolated aside from a handmade structure with no safety guarantees.

The rainy season gains force in Colombia

The torrential rains of the last 72 hours have brought the rainy season in Colombia, which officially began more than a month ago, into full swing. Many regions of the country are on alert due to the ravages caused by the power of the rain. Above all, issues are being caused by poor construction work and works that have been carried out close to riverbeds, in many cases without any legal authority.

Every rainy season, Colombia suffers material and also personal damages due to this combination of heavy rains and poverty. However, the area around Bogota, the country’s capital, continues to experience low rainfall. The city is experiencing water restrictions due to low reservoir levels. The rains, which arrived in mid-April, are scarce and have so far failed to reduce the risk of water shortages.

In spite of the fact that rain forecasts announce normality for this time of the year, according to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), there are landslide alerts in 691 municipalities in the country. In fact, in the Pacific region, there are 95 municipalities with a red landslide alert due to the arrival of rainfall.

In the midst of these days of rain and precipitation, the government has made a call to mayors and governors to have plans in place for dealing with landslides that may well come as a consequence of prolonged and regular rains in different areas of the country.