Rescuers search for survivors after Colombia mudslides kill more than 200

A sudden surge of mud and water swept away homes, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber buried in thick mud in the south-western Colombian town of Mocoa.

Colombian soldiers carry a victim, in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after water from an overflowing river swept through the town as people slept. Colombian Army / AP Photo

MOCOA, COLOMBIA // Rescuers worked through piles of mud and debris on Sunday searching for survivors after mudslides destroyed homes in southern Colombia, killing more than 200 people.

A surge of mud and water swept away homes, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber buried in thick mud in the south-western Colombian town of Mocoa.

The mudslides swamped Mocoa on Friday after days of torrential rain in the Amazon basin town of 40,000.

“The latest information we have is that there are 206 people confirmed dead, 202 injured, 220 missing, 17 neighbourhoods hit hard,” said Cesar Uruena, the Colombian Red Cross chief.

On Sunday, president Juan Manuel Santos is set to return to the town, the capital of Putumayo department, with cabinet ministers to supervise rescue efforts in the heavily forested region.

Mr Santos met rescuers and survivors in Mocoa on Saturday, and declared a public health and safety emergency to speed up rescue and aid operations.

“Dear God, I don’t want to even remember that,” said street seller Marta Ceballos, who survived the mudslide.

“To see how some people screamed and others cried, ran, tried to flee in cars, on motorcycles, and how they were trapped in the mud – it’s all too, too difficult.”

Ms Ceballos said that she lost all of her possessions. “The only things I fortunately did not lose were my husband, my daughters and my nephews,” she said.

Putumayo governor Sorrel Aroca called the event “an unprecedented tragedy” for the area.

There are “hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighbourhoods have disappeared,” he told W Radio.

Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the national disaster risk management unit, said the mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa River and tributaries.

The flooded rivers caused a “big avalanche”, the army said.

About 130 millimetres of rain fell on Friday night, Mr Santos said.

“That means 30 per cent of monthly rainfall fell last night, which precipitated a sudden rise of several rivers,” he said.

He promised earlier on Twitter to “guarantee assistance to the victims of this tragedy, which has Colombians in mourning”.

“Our prayers are with the victims and those affected,” he said.

One thousand emergency personnel, including soldiers and local police, were helping in the rescue effort. Mocoa was left without power or running water, and there were reports of people looting stores in search of bottled water.

“There are lots of people in the streets, lots of people displaced and many houses have collapsed,” said retired Mocoa resident Hernando Rodriguez, 69.

“People do not know what to do. There were no preparations. We are just starting to realise what has hit us.”

Several deadly landslides have struck Colombia in recent months.

A landslide in November killed nine people in the rural south-western town of El Tambo. Another the month before killed 10 people in the country’s north.

Climate change can play a big role in the scale of natural disasters, such as this one, a UN official said.

“Climate change is generating dynamics and we see the tremendous results in terms of intensity, frequency and magnitude of these natural effects, as we have just seen in Mocoa,” said Martin Santiago, UN chief for Colombia.

* Agence France-Presse