President Gustavo Petro declared an emergency in large parts of Colombia in response to rains that flooded vast areas and threaten to overflood dams.
The emergency was declared in all provinces on the Caribbean coast and the Choco province, which has both a Pacific and a Caribbean coast.
According to disaster management agency UNGRD, heavy rains triggered more than 130 emergencies in 181 municipalities in the past weeks.
Floods caused by the rainfall affected more than 69,000 families in half of Colombia’s 32 provinces.
More than 870 square kilometers have come under water, the UNGRD said.
The 30-day emergency decree allows the government to allocate emergency funds to the regions that are most affected by the climate crisis.
According to the Finance Ministry, the government plans to issue emergency tax decrees to collect $2.2 billion (COP8 trillion) means for relief efforts and repairs of infrastructure that was damaged by the floods.
In a letter to the Constitutional Court, which has to confirm the decree to maintain its validity, Petro defended the emergency measures, claiming the government needs to urgently respond to “an ongoing tragedy.”
The court struck down previous emergency decrees issued by the Petro administration, mainly those that allowed the government to increase taxes on the rich and the business community.
The court’s suspension of a financial emergency decree in response to Congress’ refusal to approve the tax reforms needed to finance this year’s budget caused a $4.4 billion (COP16 trillion) gap in the budget.
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