Colombia’s security forces say
they are searching for hundreds
of missing people after heavy
mudslides left at least 254 dead.
About 1,100 soldiers and police
are involved in the rescue effort.
Heavy rain flooded the city of
Mocoa in the country’s south-
west with mud and rocks,
burying whole neighbourhoods
and forcing residents to flee
their homes.
An army statement said there
were at least 400 injured and
200 still missing in the capital of
Putumayo province.
Colombian Red Cross volunteers
in the area also put the death toll
at more than 200.
The aid group said it was
working to help family members
contact each other, and that the
operation was continuing into
the night.
Video footage from the city
showed residents crying over a
list of missing children, along
with their ages, pinned to a
family welfare centre.
“We have lost a baby, who has
gone missing, and the rest is as
you can see,” one resident told
reporters. “A little baby, we can’t
find him anywhere.”
President Juan Manuel Santos
declared a state of emergency in
the region and flew in to
oversee the rescue effort.
“We will do everything possible
to help,” he said. “It breaks my
heart.”
The Colombian Air Force is
bringing equipment, water and
medicine to the area as the
search operation continues.
Photos posted to social media by
the air force showed some
patients being evacuated by air.
“Our heroes will remain in the
tragedy zone until the
emergency is over,” the army’s
statement said.
Colombia’s director of the
National Disaster Risk
Management Unit told the AFP
news agency that a third of the
region’s expected monthly rain
fell during one night.
The unusually heavy rain caused
the rivers to burst their banks.
‘The river has got us, help us
please’
“It was torrential rainstorm, it
got really strong,” local resident
Mario Usale, 42, told Reuters.
He was searching for his father-
in-law, the news agency said.
“My mother-in-law was also
missing, but we found her alive
2km (1.25 miles) away. She has
head injuries, but she was
conscious,” he added.
The mayor of Mocoa, Jose
Antonio Castro, told local media
that the city was “totally
isolated”, without electricity and
water.
His own house had also been
destroyed in the flood, with mud
reaching as high as his roof.
Landslides have struck the
region several times in recent
months, reports the BBC.
In November, nine people died
in the town of El Tambo, about
140km (87 miles) from Mocoa,
during a landslide which
followed heavy rain.
Less than a month before that,
another landslide killed several
people near Medellin, almost
500km (310 miles) to the north.
And in neighbouring Peru, more
than 90 people have died since
the start of the year because of
unusually heavy rainfall, which
also caused landslides and flash
floods.