Twenty-two people have died as a rare spell of torrential rain in Colombia left thousands of families displaced, authorities said. Colombian officials confirmed Monday that 14 of the fatalities came in the departments of Cordoba and Sucre, with at least 9,000 homes affected. Residents have been trying to salvage their belongings in waist-deep water and muck using motorboats and makeshift vessels.
“We’ve lost everything, all our belongings, all our appliances. And we are very worried because we don’t know what will happen,” Enid Gomez, who lives in Cordoba’s capital Monteria, told AFP. A cold front rushing in from the north of the Americas to the Caribbean coast of Colombia increased rainfall last month by 64 percent compared to the historical average, the national weather agency Ideam said.
On Sunday, officials said the death toll stood at 13. Seven people were killed in a landslide in southwest Narino department on Friday, as a rain-swollen stream overflowed and houses were buried in mud, department authorities said. They broadcast footage of earth-moving equipment digging away at the mud as rescue teams and sniffer dogs looked for bodies.
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Heavy rain at this time of year is rare in Colombia. Climate change is wreaking havoc with the dry and wet periods in Colombia, which has a tropical climate and no distinct seasons.
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