Weeks of rain bring death and disease to Colombia
Pastor Dale Morgan
Weeks of rain bring death and disease to Colombia
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* Story Highlights
* Colombia flooding has left 14 dead, 100 injured and 100,000 homeless
* Downpours caused Colombia's main waterway, Magdalena River, to
overflow
* Flood-related illnesses tied to lack of hygiene have begun to
break out
* Red Cross warehouses will run out of supplies within a week,
officials say
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Flooding in central Colombia has left at least
14 people dead, 100 injured and 100,000 homeless over the past week,
officials said Wednesday.
A man rests in a hammock outside his flooded home in La Dorada village
in Colombia.
Torrential downpours have caused the Magdalena River, the nation's
principal waterway, to overflow. The flooding has flattened houses,
killed animals and crops, made highways impassable and isolated entire
villages.
"We have emergencies in 26 [of a national total of 32] departments and
70 municipalities," said Walter Cote, director of Socorro Nacional for
the Colombian Red Cross.
"That signifies very complex movement in isolated sites and that makes
our operation very difficult, expensive and, at times, problematic due
to issues of security," he told CNN en Español.
The downpour has been thrashing the country for three months. But the
storms have worsened in recent days, causing a number of rivers to
overflow and unstable areas to collapse in landslides.
Government officials were taking precautions.
"We are not going to run risks," said Diego Palacio, Colombia's minister
of social protection. "We are going to persuade people who are on
riverbanks or islands that they have to leave immediately."
The government has declared a state of highest alert in almost half the
country and has activated agencies to help people who have lost their
homes to the floods.
Federal authorities are offering help through the Red Cross, the Civil
Defense and firefighters.
In some regions, flood-related illnesses tied to insufficient hygiene
have begun to break out, especially among children.
Many Colombians are donating food, medicine and blankets, which the Red
Cross has taken to emergency sites.
But Colombians are preparing for more difficulty: Meteorologists predict
more rain across much of the country in the next three weeks.
"We know we're going to have difficulties," Cote said. "The number of
people may increase sharply -- that is to say, if we continue as we are
going, the number of people in need could increase by 50 percent to 100
percent."
Authorities estimate that Red Cross warehouses containing emergency
supplies will go empty within a week.