Rains give no respite in Santander and cause emergencies in five municipalities

In the last few hours firefighters, Civil Defense, Police and personnel from the Risk Management Office in five municipalities of Santander attended different emergencies that occurred due to the heavy rains that hit the department and which have caused rivers and streams to overflow, and landslides.

According to information from Blu Radio, the municipality of Puerto Wilches is still the one most affected by heavy rains, as in the town of Sitio Nuevo it overflowed the Magdalena River, destroyed the dam and flooded 3,000 hectares of land, affecting 10,000 cattle, in addition to crops.

The mayor of Puerto Wilches, Jairo Toquica, announced that the point where the river overflowed will be intervened, “there is an enlistment of machinery to intervene the site with people from the community and carry out a craft work known as tupia, and then enter with a ferry to build the vase that was damaged”.

For his part, according to the testimony collected by Blu Radio, Luis Murillo, a resident of Sitio Nuevo, confirmed that, “in the area crops of corn, beans, pancoger are lost, here you can no longer do late crops, but only short crops because everything is damaged”.

On the other hand, according to local media, heavy rains forced the authorities of the municipality of Encino to declare public calamity, after causing a landslide that left 400 families in the towns of Patio Santo, Patios Bajos, Canada, Minas and Avendaño incommunicado.

Given this, the mayor of Encino, José Gabriel Giratá, announced that he submitted a request to the Office of Risk Management due to landslides and avalanches on the road that communicates with the department of Boyacá.

Another municipality that has been affected by the rains is Carmen de Chucurí, where a monumental landslide prevents passage on the road that connects with the Ruta del Sol, which, according to Mayor Diego Plata, has affected 25 villages in that municipality.

“For all this, we declared public calamity, since we have many collapsed roads, which forced us to request assistance from the National Unit for Risk Management and the Government of Santander itself,” he said.

Finally, he pointed out that in addition, the alternate road through San Vicente de Chucurí is so damaged that it is practically impassable.

Another municipality affected by the downpours is Onzaga, where the passage leading to Covarachía, in the Vegas sector, is restricted due to road damage. It is worth remembering that in the past few days, Mayor Johana Grimaldos confirmed that, “the road is damaged in three sectors. More than 500 peasant families live in this area, producing dairy foods, fruits and vegetables. There is total loss of the road in the districts of Susa and Tombita”.

The capital of Santander has not been spared from the harsh weather either and, in the morning hours of April 19, in the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga, in the north of the city, and in Floridablanca, a heavy downpour generated flooding and falling trees.

According to information from Semana, on the road that connects the municipality of Floridablanca with Piedecuesta, the rockfall was recorded, just as a couple of motorcyclists were traveling there. The event took place near the International Hospital of Colombia, HIC. Those affected were taken to a medical center, where at this time they are stable and recovering from the blows.

The Bucaramanga Firefighters warned that the Oro and Suratá rivers are being monitored, in person and with the assistance of the Police, and at critical points such as the Luz de Salvation sector where they have been carrying out prevention visits.

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