Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Devastating Rains

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Dec 6 2004 (IPS) - Heavy rains falling in Colombia since September have claimed the lives of some 30 people and left more than 250,000 homeless, according to reports presented by local emergency committees. On Nov. 26, in the northern city of Barranquilla, a four-hour torrential rain flooded several neighborhoods and three people disappeared in the heavy currents that resulted from the lack of appropriate run-off systems.

In Bogotá, 105 families from one neighborhood were affected by flooding, in the southern city of Ipiales a five-hour storm flooded 15 neighborhoods, and in the western city of Barbacoas more than 100 families lost their homes when nearby rivers overflowed their banks.

The rains have begun to diminish, but the Civil Defense director of Barranquilla, Mayor Jairo García, told Tierramérica that the population should remain on the alert, particularly in high-risk areas.