Bogota – Severe flooding and landslides have killed at least 193 people in the city of Mocoa in south-western Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday.
The number of injured currently stands at 202, according to the president, who previously said that hundreds of people were still missing.
Earlier, the Colombian Red Cross spoke of more than 200 deaths, more than 400 people injured and an unknown number of people missing.
April 1, 2017 – Mocoa, Colombia – Soldiers rescue landslide victims in Mocoa, capital city of Putumayo department. At least 112 people were killed in the landslide. (Credit Image: © Colprensa/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire) Photo: Colprensa via ZUMA/dpa
Heavy rainfall caused three rivers to overflow their banks. Water and sludge flowed into 17 neighbourhoods of Mocoa, said Carlos Ivan Marquez, the director of national emergency services.
Land access to Mocoa, located some 630 kilometres south-west of the capital Bogota, has been cut off by damage to two bridges.
Emergency services in the city of about 40,000 people are having difficulty dealing with the high number of injured people in Mocoa, said Sorrel Aroca, governor of Putamayo Department.
“We lack staff to help the victims of the tragedy,” she said, according to Radio Caracol.
The mayor of Mocoa, Jose Antonio Castro, said that electricity and water services were suspended. Castro said his own house had been destroyed by mud that reached the ceiling.
President Santos cancelled a trip to Cuba in order to go to the disaster area and ordered soldiers to deploy to the region.
“This tragedy saddens all Colombians,” he said.
The devastation in Colombia follows similar flooding in northern Peru. Nearly 100 people were reported killed and 20,000 displaced in that South American country earlier this week. People were stranded on rooftops as floodwaters inundated streets and homes in a region about 1,000 kilometres north of the capital Lima.
-dpa
