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The torrential rains that have occurred in the last hours in various regions of the country have caused emergencies in municipalities of Antioquia, Bolívar and Chocó.
In addition to the second annual rainy season, which occurs in the national territory during these months, the passage of tropical storm Iota near the Colombian Caribbean coast has caused an increase in the intensity of rainfall in the north of the country.
Faced with the emergency, President Iván Duque indicated that the Government will maintain monitoring in conjunction with the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, Ideam; the General Maritime Directorate, Dimar; and the National Unit for Risk Management, Ungrd.
“From the National Government we evaluate response actions due to impacts that leave heavy rains and the passage of tropical storm Iota. We call on local authorities to activate contingency plans,” said the head of state, via Twitter.
For its part, the Ungrd convened an extraordinary session of the National Disaster Management Committee where various actions were defined to continue with the response.
“By order of our president, all the capacity of our operating entities will be in the territories that have been affected, in the department of Chocó, Antioquia and Bolívar and we are enlisting in the archipelago of San Andrés. With Ideam we have been monitoring and here We deploy all of our response lines with the articulation of our team of technical professionals who will monitor the territories, “said the deputy director for Disaster Management, Ariel Zambrano.
Bolívar: Cartagena, in public calamity
So far the most affected city has been Cartagena de Indias, in which emergencies such as floods, landslides and tree falls have been registered in 70% of the city.
As a result of this situation, the mayor of Cartagena, William Dau, made the decision to declare a public calamity, in order to be able to develop a specific plan of action and to be able to address the emergency in a coordinated way with the departmental and national governments.
Dau assured that the declaration of public calamity will allow “hiring teams to mitigate the effects, to clean channels, to clear and pump water. In addition, we are already working on obtaining aid from private companies, such as machinery and equipment that can be used for these labors “.
In Bolívar, according to the departmental risk management council, emergencies have also been registered in other municipalities as a result of the rains.
More information: Serious damage, floods and public calamity in Cartagena after storm Iota
San Andrés, on alert
The archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia is on high alert due to the proximity of tropical storm Iota, which advances with maximum sustained winds of 93 km / h, according to Ideam and with “a high possibility of becoming a hurricane between the night of Sunday 15 and the early morning of Monday November 16 “.
The institute suggested “extreme measures on the island of Providencia”, where there is a warning of hurricane winds with intensities greater than 119 km / h and in San Andrés, where there is a warning of tropical storm winds between 63 and 117 km / h,
“The displacement of Iota has caused bad weather conditions in various sectors of the country, so we especially recommend the inhabitants of the national Caribbean and the archipelago of San Andrés and its keys to take preventive measures in the face of the probability of winds and waves with values above normal, of threat to the community and to air and maritime navigation “, Ideam stressed.
Also read: Duque traveled to San Andrés to assess the emergency after hurricane Eta
For its part, the Government of San Andrés y Providencia decreed this Saturday a curfew in the archipelago, as part of prevention measures.
The circulation of people in the department will be prohibited from 3:00 pm on Sunday until 5:00 am on Monday 16 and from 3:00 pm on Monday until 5:00 am on Tuesday 17.
The authorities also confirmed that from this Saturday the use of keys, beaches and the development of nautical activities in the archipelago are restricted.
Chocó: Thousands of victims
At least 11 municipalities of Chocó have been affected as a result of the floods that occurred suddenly in the last hours, according to the report given by the coordinator of Risk Management of Chocó to the Ungrd.
“The strongest damage occurs in the municipalities of Carmen de Atrato and Lloró, where in the first of these the collapse of a house leaves a person dead. Preventive actions are being carried out together with the aid agencies, evacuation of families to safe points and coordination to be able to deploy delegates to carry out damage assessment and needs analysis “, reported from the national entity.
# SOSChocó The Chocó was cut off, the Atrato River swelled and took away the poor Medellín-Quibdó highway; it flooded several municipalities Lloró and Bagadó. Other rivers such as the San Juan and tributaries flooded Itsmina, Andagoya and Condoto. More impacts are expected. We are carried pic.twitter.com/xqXvUroxFL
– Luis Ernesto Olave V (@LUISEROLAVE) November 14, 2020
Fredy Abadía, a representative of Lloró, Chocó, asked for help to move forward in relocating people affected by the rains.
The official told Blu Radio that more than 1,000 people lost everything due to the rains and the flooding of the Atrato River.
“The entire village was destroyed, the water reached the roof of all the houses, the school was damaged, the health post. Everything is lost,” he said.
He added that although the rains have stopped, “the river’s flood continues the same. The problem is that since we are in the rainy season, the risk is imminent that an avalanche could come later or tomorrow.”
Antioquia: Dabeiba, the most affected
The department of Antioquia has been another of those affected by the heavy rains of the last hours, being the municipality of Dabeiba, in the west of the region, where more emergencies have been registered.
“There were landslides and a torrential avenue in the Dabeiba Vieja creek, affecting the villages of Button, Mohán and El Cajón. There these events leave, in a preliminary way, 3 people dead and 16 more missing”, indicated the Ungrd.
The entity also reported that it managed a Black Hawk helicopter with the Colombian Air Force in order to support the work carried out by the Government to rescue people who are in the upper part of the mountain and were evacuated in a preventive manner.
On the afternoon of this Saturday, 32 people were evacuated from the site in two helicopters from the Government of Antioquia and one from the Air Force
Faced with the torrential avenue that appeared last night, families from the Dabeiba Viejo village climbed to the highest part of the mountain to safeguard their lives. We advanced in their rescue with two helicopters of @GobAntioquia and one of @FuerzaAereaCol. UNITED for Life. pic.twitter.com/wuYLKZKD3E
– # AníbalGobernador (@anibalgaviria) November 14, 2020
In addition, as a result of the landslides that occurred on Friday night, the National Infrastructure Agency, ANI, reported the total closure of the road that leads to Urabá Antioqueño, between the municipalities of Uramita and Dabeiba.
Due to this situation, the ANI recommended that all users use the alternative route, which is Medellín-Caucasia-Montería-Urabá.
The ANI determined the total banking loss as a result of the landslides.
Colprensa
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