More than 100 homes were flooded and thousands were left without electricity in Colombia’s second biggest city Medellin on Monday as heavy rains caused widespread disruption.
The seasonal down pours destroyed homes in the north of the city along the border with the neighboring city Bello as authorities sought to evacuate those in affected areas.
Authorities report that the La Madera stream overflowed as a result of the heavy rain causing a flash floods in the Santander neighborhood along the border between Medellin and Bello.
“We have sent a response team to the site to do the relevant exploration and has called the team ofthe Bello Fire department, who shares the border area with us to work together,” said the deputy director of Disaster Management of the Administrative Department of Risk Management (DARG) to reporters.
In the west of Medellin, a woman was reported as missing as locals believe she fell into a stream in the Robles Aures neighborhood.
A landslide in the San Javier neighborhood destroyed a house injuring four people, one adult and three minors according to local media.
Energy provider EPM on Monday confirmed that the rains left some 15,000 people in the west of the city without electricity.
In the municipality of Caldas on the outskirts of Medellin, local media reported damage to two homes and the collapse of a retaining wall that was built specifically to prevent flooding of this type.
A meeting is due to be held on Tuesday between the risk management authorities and the local chief executive to determine the strategies that will mitigate the damages and provide humanitarian aid to the most needy.
Colombia’s raining season is usually subject recurring Pacific weather phenomena that cause increased rainfall in the South American country as well as its neighbors.
In April of last year, hundreds of people died in the cities of Mocoa and Manizales and left the cities devastated after the rains caused the fatal floods, avalanches and mudslides.