Colombia’s National Meteorological Institute (IDEAM) announced on Sunday that Colombia’s second rainy season will intensify in November.
Ricardo Lozano, director of IDEAM, reported that rainfall will continue this weekend in the Savanna of Bogota, the Coffee Region, Antioquia, the Santanders, Cundinamarca, Huila and Tolima.
Antioquia is one of the departments of most concern, according to Lozano, because most of the cities are situated on steep slopes and are thus more vulnerable to mudslides.
He also warned residents in areas of high-risk to be “alerted to any movement of soil and increments in rivers and streams to avoid tragedies,” according to radio station W Radio.
The director went on to say that it was of great importance for people in high-risk areas to “follow evacuation recommendations.”
Colombia’s second rainy season has already been responsible for multiple road closures, the destruction of hundreds of homes, and has affected hundreds of thousands of people.
The latest weather-related tragedy occurred during a landslide in the city of Manizales on Saturday where at least 37 people were killed with 40 more still unaccounted for.
So far, more than 70 people have been killed in floods and landslides since September, when the rainy season began.