For the second time this month, extreme rainfall caused flooding in one of Colombia’s cities, killing at least two in Manizales. Fifteen people were reported missing.
The rain began coming down on Manizales about 7:30PM on Tuesday, but in such quantities that numerous of the mountainous city’s streams overflowed and part of the Sancasio hill came down in an avalanche.
Since then, Manizales Mayor Octavio Cardona told RCN Radio that “it hasn’t stopped raining.”
The excessive rainfall caused a landslide that hit the Aranjuez neighborhood, killing one person.
In the nearby Alto Persia neighborhood another person was reportedly killed and nine had gone missing, according to Caracol Radio.
At least 20 homes in the affected neighborhoods at the foot of the Sancacio hill were destroyed. In total, 15 people are missing, the mayor told the radio station.
A parts of the city was left without electricity and running water while the city center was isolated after an avalanche blocked a road.
Derrumbe bloquea vía hacia el centro por fuertes lluvias. #Manizales pic.twitter.com/U9HXXQnTie
— UM Central (@LaUMcentral) April 19, 2017
At the order of the mayor, all the city’s schools and universities remain closed on Tuesday.
Cardona asked the residents of the Caldas capital to stay at home as much as possible to allow relief agencies to attend the affected areas.
The Manizales disaster is the second to hit Colombia this month.
The capital of the Putumayo department, Mocoa, was partly destroyed by mudslides and avalanches on April 1. More than 300 have been found dead since, while approximately 100 people who were reported missing were never found.
Colombia’s first rainy season of the year came together with “La Niña,” a Pacific weather phenomenon, making the tropical rains even more extreme than they usually are.
