Fourteen national roads are closed completely due to weather conditions, highway police reported Thursday, with a number of airports also affected.
Prolonged heavy rains have caused numerous cases of landslides and flooding throughout the country, leading to closure or restricted passage on many roadways and recently causing concern or closure at various airports.
Cundinamarca has been the most adversely affected department regarding roads, with five of the 14 closures taking place there, El Espectador reported. Among these are the highly trafficked Bogota-Villavicencia route.
Numerous other routes and municipal highways are currently in a state of restricted passage or partial closure, including the route between Medellin and Bogota, according to Caracol Radio.
Air travel has also been seriously affected by the weather, reported Dinero.com. Bogota’s main airport, El Dorado, is being closely monitored because of the high water levels of the Bogota River.
“In El Dorado airport there is a great deal of monitoring of the Bogota River, which is something that has us very worried and each hour we are measuring it’s height,” said Sergio Paris, Secretary of the Civil Aeronautics Operational Systems.
El Dorado continues to maintain its usual operations, but various other airports in the departments of Tolima, Caldas, Risaralda, Quindio, Choco, Cauca and Villavicencio have shut down due to dangerous conditions.
The effects of this year’s rainy season have been extreme to the point where they have exceeded the capacity of state infrastructure to deal with the problem.
In a meeting called Thursday by President Juan Manuel Santos to discuss a course of action regarding the disastrous winter, the president promised to provide an additional $8.4 million this year to assist victims of the rainy season.