Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Colombia city swamped in night
At least 193 people die in surge from overflowing rivers
BOGOTA, Colombia — An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers swept through a small city in Colombia while people slept, destroying homes, sweeping away cars and killing at least 193 residents.
The disaster, triggered by heavy rains, occurred in Mocoa, a provincial capital of about 40,000 people tucked between mountains near Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador.
Muddy water and debris surged through the city’s streets, toppling homes, ripping trees from their roots and carrying them downstream. Many of the residents did not have time to climb onto roofs or seek refuge on higher ground.
Survivors told reporters that they woke around midnight Friday to screams and the shaking of buildings. Videos taken shortly after the flood show city streets converted into murky waterways filled with floating debris. Some people can be heard screaming the names of those missing.
According to the Red Cross, 202 people were injured and 220 were believed missing. President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency Saturday and said the death toll would rise but warned against speculating how many people are dead.
“We don’t know how many there are going to be,” he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone to oversee rescue efforts. “We’re still looking.”
Santos said the government was working to restore power. About half of the city’s residents were without electricity and the federal government was trucking in clean water. With hundreds of homes destroyed, Santos said he was creating a housing fund to aid survivors.
Of particular concern, he said, were several rescued children whose parents appeared to have perished. Santos said at least 10 children were without family members.
Eduardo Vargas, 29, was asleep with his wife and 7-month-old child when he was awoken by neighbors banging on the door. He quickly grabbed his family and fled up a small mountain surrounded by panicked cries.
“There was no time for anything,” he said.
Vargas and his family huddled with about two dozen other people as rocks, trees and wooden planks ripped through the neighborhood below. They waited there until daylight, when members of the military helped them down.
When he reached the site of his home Saturday, he found nothing but rocks and mud.
“Thank God we have our lives,” he said.
As rescuers assessed the damage, many residents in Mocoa searched desperately for friends and relatives.
Oscar Londono tried in vain throughout the night to reach his wife’s parents, whose home is right along one of the flooded rivers. He decided it was too dangerous to try to reach them in the dark. So he called over and over by phone but got no answer.
Once the sun began to rise he started walking toward their house but found all the streets he usually takes missing. As he tried to orient himself he came across the body of a young woman dressed in a miniskirt and black blouse.
He checked her pulse but could not find one.
“There were bodies all over,” he said.
When he finally reached the neighborhood where his in-laws live, he found “just mud and rocks.” Rescue workers with the military directed him toward the mountain, where he found his relatives camped with other survivors.
“To know they were alive,” he said, “it was a reunion of tears.”
Santos said at least 22 people were seriously injured and being airlifted to nearby cities, as the small regional hospital in Mocoa struggled to cope with the influx of patients after the crisis.
Herman Granados, an anesthesiologist at the hospital, said he worked throughout the night on victims, cleaning wounds. He said the hospital doesn’t have a blood bank large enough to deal with the number of patients and was quickly running out of its supply.
Some hospital workers went to work even while their own relatives remained missing.
“Under the mud,” Granados said, “I am sure there are many more.”
The Colombian Red Cross said it had deployed 24 people to the area, including psychologists and specialists to help find the missing.
“In this moment, it’s chaos,” said Oscar Forero, a spokesman with the Colombian Red Cross. “There are many people missing.”
Santos blamed climate change for triggering the avalanche, saying the accumulated rainfall in one night was almost half the amount Mocoa normally receives in March. With the rainy season in much of Colombia just beginning, he said, local and national authorities need to redouble their efforts to prevent a similar tragedy.
“The entire capacity of the state is deployed to support the search and rescue,” Santos said on Twitter. In another post, he said, “The tragedy of Mocoa hurts me as president and as a human being. My heartfelt condolences to each family of the victims.”
Herman Granados, an anesthesiologist at the hospital, said he worked throughout the night on victims, cleaning wounds. He said the hospital doesn’t have a blood bank large enough to deal with the number of patients and was quickly running out of its supply.