Colombians have been warned to brace for more torrential winter rain as the disastrous rainy season stretches on.
President Juan Manuel Santos said that “unfortunately the La Niña phenomenon is still present, alive and well.”
Santos warned Colombians that the damaging weather that recently hit the country could be a lot worse in the coming months. The soil is also more vulnerable to landslides due to the previous heavy rain.
“There has been no summer, the country has had to endure rain for quite some time, many months of intense rain, unprecedented. And unfortunately we are one of the most vulnerable in terms of landslides and location of the population in high risk areas,” he added.
The phenomenon of “La Niña” is produced by a low temperature in the Pacific Ocean, combined with increased trade winds, which result in rainclouds being swept from the sea towards the interior of the continent. This phenomenon has been repeated every 24 – 36 months over the past 15 years.
The heavy winter rains in 2010 affected over 2 million people in Colombia, damaging infrastructure, destroying homes and taking hundreds of lives.