Colombia Landslide Kills At Least 154, Scores Injured

Global warming is causing more cases of severe weather events, including heavy rain. Those who are blocking action on GW are mass murderers.

Safe to say more fatalities and injuries will be discovered.

by Associated Press
April 1, 2017

An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers swept through a small city in Colombia while people slept, destroying homes, sweeping away cars and killing at least 154 unsuspecting residents.

The incident triggered by intense rains happened around midnight in Mocoa, a provincial capital of about 40,000 tucked between mountains near Colombia's southern border with Ecuador.

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According to the Red Cross, 400 people were injured and 220 believed missing. President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency on Saturday and said the death toll will likely rise but warned against speculating how many people are dead.

"We don't know how many there are going to be," he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone to oversee rescue efforts. "We're still looking."

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The Red Cross planned to set up a special unit in Mocoa Saturday afternoon to help relatives search for their loved ones.

"In this moment, it's chaos," said Oscar Forero, a spokesman with the Colombian Red Cross. "There are many people missing."

Santos blamed climate change for triggering the avalanche, saying that the accumulated rainfall in one night was almost half the amount Mocoa normally receives in the entire month of March. With the rainy season in much of Colombia just beginning, he said local and national authorities need to redouble their efforts to prevent a similar tragedy.