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The climate changed this week Bogotá and the Sabana, after several months of few reports of torrential rains. In fact, the emergencies that had arisen were more due to waterlogging and sewer plugging.
However, the rising of the Bogotá river on Wednesday morning, as a consequence of the increase in rainfall since the previous weekend, it triggered the alarms of the authorities and emergency prevention and care agencies.
(Read: Orange Alert for high levels in the Bogotá River)
The behavior of the climate, according to Ideam, is due to the fact that November is not only the second month of the year with the most rainfall, but also due to the influence of the La Niña phenomenon, which will cause rainfall to be above normal in December . That is why the forecast for this weekend and the second half of the month is very cloudy and rainy.
The level of the Bogotá river increased 1.2 meters, at the height of the Saucio station, in the municipality of Chocontá, north of the department of Cundinamarca. This unusual increase –the channel went from 5 m3 / s to 19 m3 / s– made us think about the possibility of overflows.
However, as reported on Thursday by the Regional Autonomous Corporation, CAR of Cundinamarca, since Wednesday the situation is under control, although they maintain the alert and the recommendations for people who live in areas of slopes or on the banks of streams or rivers.
From the moment that the rise in the waters of the Bogotá River was reported, according to the CAR’s Directorate of Resources, the discharges from the North Agregado reservoirs (Neusa, Sisga and Tominé) that had been carried out to maintain the tributary channel.
(Alert due to the low level of the reservoirs in the Sabana)
This work was carried out due to the rainfall deficit that has been registered since September 2018, which, according to the environmental corporation, even reached 60 percent last October, compared to the same month of 2019. The closing of gates has allowed the reservoirs to increase their capacity, which up to a week were just over 40 percent.
In the capital of the country, the director of the District Institute for Risk Management and Climate Change, Idiger, Guillermo Escobar Castro, reported that there have been no landslides or major impacts due to winter in the city. There are only reports of flooding, due to clogging or lack of drainage capacity, and falling trees.
Escobar recommended doing preventive maintenance on canals, roofs and rooftops, but above all not throwing garbage on the street. These end up plugging the sewers, which then generates overflows on the tracks.
The director of the Idiger also called the attention of people who reside in illegal neighborhoods and who have their homes near slopes, in order to avoid carrying out interventions on these, because the soil can be destabilized. He pointed out that the entity tracks the weather in real time and that this information can be found on the website https://www.idiger.gov.co/.
As for the Bogotá river, as it passes through the city, no damage has been recorded. It should be remembered that in the tributary, the CAR has been carrying out hydraulic adaptation works that allow cushioning the increases in the channel in the rainy seasons, which reduces the risk of flooding.
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And although so far there have been no emergencies throughout the basin, experts from the environmental corporation recommend being vigilant in the face of any increase in water, from the municipality of Villapinzón to the mouth of the Magdalena River, in Girardot.
CAR experts recommend being aware of the behavior of the Negro, Sumapaz and Magdalena rivers, as in the case of possible rises in flow and avalanches.
‘Heavy downpours are expected in Bogotá and La Sabana’: Ideam
A confluence of factors has led to an increase in rainfall in the last 72 hours in the Cundiboyacense highlands and, of course, in the country’s capital.
The region is currently in the second rainiest season and in the wettest month of the year –after April–, but it is also affected by a tropical wave, by an area of low pressure and the presence of the phenomenon La Niña, which accentuates rainfall.
Increased rainfall has occurred throughout the region since the beginning of November. However, in the last 48 hours, these have been above 40 millimeters, mainly in the east, northeast, west and southwest of Cundinamarca, as well as on the border with Antioquia.
“In the highlands there has also been an intensification of rains in the last week, and in Bogotá, in the last 3 or 4 days”, explained the director of Ideam, Yolanda González.
In fact, according to the official, the capital has different regimes, like this: the north, east, west and the National University sector are more rainy. However, the south and the southeast have low intensity and frequency.
Ideam’s forecast is that this Saturday and Sunday there will be “quite significant volumes of rainfall” and on Monday and Tuesday, “more extreme rainfall.”
The times of greatest rain are expected in the afternoons and nights.
González assured that, due to the La Niña phenomenon, the conditions of increased rainfall will remain this year, and even during the first quarter of 2021.
“This implies that in December we will have rain conditions above normal, especially in the Caribbean and central and northern regions of the Andean region.
GUILLERMO REINOSO RODRÍGUEZ
Bogota Editor
@ guirei24
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