At least 14 dead and 9,000 homes affected by the rains in northern Colombia

Bogotá.- At least 14 people have died and 9,000 homes were destroyed by the floods caused by the intense rains that have fallen in recent days in the Colombian departments of Córdoba and Sucre, reported this Friday President Gustavo Petro.

"There are 14 dead, 9,000 destroyed homes, almost 50,000 affected families, 35,000 flooded hectares and 300,000 affected. As FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) said, there was a risk of hunger in Córdoba and Sucre due to the climate crisis", Petro expressed on X.

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In the last week, several regions of Colombia, especially the north and northwest, have registered emergencies due to floods caused by the rains associated with a first cold front that entered the Caribbean Sea in a season that is usually characterized by low rainfall. The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Ideam) warned that between this Friday and next Monday there is a new cold front moving from the northern hemisphere and will reach the Caribbean. This unusual weather behavior has caused rivers to overflow and flooding in urban and rural areas, leaving thousands of people affected and damage to roads, homes and crops.

"It's very atypical, we are in the season of less rain. We have seasons of more rain and less rain, and right now we are in the season of less rain", warned the director of the state-owned National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Carlos Carrillo.

Given what has happened, Petro assured this Friday that he must "declare again the economic, environmental and social emergency in the region" where the floods are occurring, which may extend to the rest of the country. "We will act with the Army, demolishing dikes that impede water flows in the disaster area, and the lands stolen from the swamps and canals will be restored to mitigate the floods," added the president after participating in a meeting of the National Council for Risk and Disaster Management.