Wall of water slams Colombia city, kills 193 Hundreds injured or missing after raging river overflows banks in Mocoa
A massive wall of water carrying mud and debris crashed through a small city in southwest Colombia overnight, killing at least 193 people, some of them still in their beds, after heavy rains caused three nearby rivers to overflow.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced the rising death toll Saturday evening. Rescuers continued to search for survivors, with 220 people unaccounted for.
The deluge struck around midnight, washing away trees, vehicles, houses and everything in its path. It injured 202 people, more than 20 of them so seriously they had to be airlifted to other cities.
Eduardo Vargas says he was able to flee with his wife and 7- month- old baby only because neighbors banged on his door to alert him. He and his family climbed up a small mountain to safety before their home was destroyed by rushing water.
“Nothing left,” he said Saturday after returning to the site, according to the Associated Press. “But thank God we have our lives.”
Warning the death toll could rise as the search for survivors continues, Santos declared a state of emergency for Mocoa, a small city of about 40,000 located near the southern border with Ecuador.
Santos blamed climate change for the wall of water that knocked out power in
half the province of Putumayo, where Mocoa is located, and wiped out the city’s supply of fresh water.
The rainfall total in one night amounted to nearly half the precipitation the city typically receives in the entire month of March, he said, adding that local and national authorities must work to prevent another tragedy as the rainy season gets underway.
“These rains are increasingly more intense, so we have to be ready,” Santos said, according to the Associated Press.
The torrential rains triggered what the Colombian army called an “avalanche” of muddy and debris strewn water from the Mocoa River and its tributaries. Soon the streets filled with rushing water that crushed homes, pulled trees up from their roots and whisked away cars and trucks.
Herman Granados, a doctor, said the local hospital was quickly running out of supplies and didn’t have enough blood on hand to treat patients, he added.
“Under the mud, I am sure there are many more ( people),” Granados told the AP.