70 people and 150 hectares affected leave a vase break in Cauca river

The catastrophe occurred in el jarillón — a land-built dam that is usually found on the banks of a river — that borders the municipalities of Rozo and La Torre, in Valle del Cauca, whose impact affected the lives of 70 people as well as causing damage to 300 hectares of pancoger crops in the area.

The mayor's office of Palmira, under which the two affected municipalities orbit, began rescue work for the families and together with the Department's Risk Management Unit, as well as with the assistance of the city's Volunteer Firefighters, began work to repair the dam.

In addition, the overflow of the waters of the Cauca River — one of Colombia's main tributaries — led to the closure of the Valle highway, which communicates the entire department, causing a collapse in mobility that is attended by the highway authorities.

Authorities reported that the overflow occurred since April 20, so the closure of the road was ordered immediately. They ensure that they expect river levels to fall to proceed with the reopening.

On the other hand, in the reconstruction work of the jarillón, the mayor's office determined that the workers attached to the municipality will fill between 30 and 40 meters of the dam with 1,500 one-ton bags of earth to contain the situation resulting from the winter wave, which especially affects southwestern Colombia.

The director of Disaster Risk Management (e), Manuel Alejandro López, informed the community that the rainy season began in mid-March and will continue until the beginning of June, so he invited the entire community to be attentive to early warnings to mitigate any type of risk.

For mobility within Valle del Cauca, the authorities recommended taking an alternate route such as that of Mulaló-Rozo when leaving the La Torre toll with return at the Mulaló roundabout and going to the Cencar roundabout to make the return and take the Guajira intersection towards the village of Rozo.

Staff of the Rutas del Valle Concessionaire report that they are attentive to the situation together with the risk management agencies of the municipality of Palmira in order to facilitate mobility and prevent accidents on the road.

The rainy season that began on March 16 has reported 28 people dead, 45 injured and one missing person throughout the country.

The data were provided by the National Crisis Room of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) in the most recent report. The document establishes that 276 emergencies were registered due to rainfall in 166 municipalities in 19 departments.

Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Cauca, Tolima, Nariño, the Coffee Region are the areas with the greatest number of municipalities impacted by rainfall.

Emergencies have affected 5,177 families and 2,004 homes were reported with some kind of damage and 107 totally destroyed. There were also problems in terms of infrastructure: there were damage to 335 roads, 39 aqueducts, 14 sewers, 17 educational institutions and 34 vehicular and four pedestrian bridges.

UNGRD warned emergencies in Nariño as rains are causing landslides, damage to roads, aqueducts and river overflows. The same is true in Santander, as local authorities recorded damage to the roads in the municipalities of Onzaga, Santa Helena, El Carmen del Chucurí and Encino.

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