Flooding leaves 50,000 homeless in Colombia


BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- More than 50,000 residents of northern Colombia remained homeless Monday after the rain-swollen Magdalena River broke through dikes and flooded towns and surrounding areas.
Floods hit Valle de Cauca, Colombia, last month. Floods are blamed for 67 deaths in Colombia since September.





In the town of Plato, the water flooded 4,000 homes and buildings, leaving 40,000 people homeless, Mayor Jose Rosales Cortina told El Tiempo newspaper. The floodwaters washed away 50 houses, he said.

No fatalities have been reported in this weekend's flooding.

"Everything is collapsing -- the economic system, the health system, public services," Rosales Cortina said in an interview on CNN affiliate Caracol TV.
"We need help," one anguished woman said on the newscast. "Don't you see that the town is totally flooded? We don't have anything in this town. No one helps us here."
The flooding has hit several other riverside cities in Magdalena, one of Colombia's 32 state-like "departments." Municipalities in other departments also have been flooded.

In Plato, about 560 miles north of Bogota, the Magdalena River broke through a levee Saturday. The suddenness of the flooding surprised many residents. Water reached the rooftops of many homes and power was lost in most of the city.
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"The water roared. It roared," said resident Noris Padilla. "The current took you away. You couldn't hold onto anything. It took away eight houses here."
Alvaro Padilla said on Caracol TV that he went underwater to look inside his house, which had water nearly to the roof.
"The furniture, the bed, the television, everything is under water," he said.

Thousands of homeless residents have taken shelter in hospitals, schools and sports venues.

Police in Plato, which has 70,000 residents, have restricted access to the city because of looting. Caracol showed a resident carrying a rifle overhead as he waded through chest-high water.
"First of all, they steal our electric wiring. They take our roofs. They take all that away. So we have to stay here," the man said, pointing to his weapon.

At a nearby school, La Escuela Urbana Mixta San Rafael, a man was treading water near the building's front wall as he spoke with a reporter on a boat.
"The computers, the fans, all that is underwater," he said.

Magdalena Gov. Omar Diaz Granados said officials have delivered 2,500 food baskets, 1,000 hammocks, 1,000 awnings, 5,000 sleeping bags and 10 rolls of plastic to make shelters.

Plato Mayor Rosales said eight of the city's 11 districts were flooded, including several government buildings, the courthouse, a clinic and the city's main Catholic church. The priest had taken refuge on the second floor of the parish house.
Even though some food has been delivered, Rosales said, some people are hungry.
"There is still no official tally, but the losses are in the multimillions," Rosales told El Tiempo, "There are stores, houses and farms destroyed. In sum, people who lost it all."

In the town of Pedraza in Heredia department, 4,000 people fled to higher ground after the Magdalena ripped a 150-foot hole in a retention wall. Water reached the rooftops of more than 330 homes and flooded the town's school and church, El Tiempo said. At least 2,500 residents lost everything.

In Bolivar department, 1,500 families were flooded out in the town of Regidor.
Nationwide, the Colombian Civil Defense said, nearly 1 million people have been left homeless since Colombia's rainy season started in mid-September. The rainy season has lasted longer than usual.

Officials say flooding has killed 67 people and injured 94 this year, Caracol Radio reported. Eighteen people remain missing in 27 departments.