Death toll from Colombia rains rises to 113

Bogota, Agency
The death toll from heavy rains that have battered Colombia since January and intensified further in recent months has climbed to 113, emergency management officials said Wednesday.

More than 1.1 million people have been affected nationwide by the downpours, which have caused damage in 533 of the country's 1,120 provinces and sparked hundreds of emergencies, the Interior and Justice Ministry's Risk Management Department said.

The 113 fatalities, spread out over most of Colombia's 32 provinces, are the result of electrical storms, mudslides, flooding and rapid increases in water levels, the SNPAD emergency management agency said.

Another 184 people have been injured and 16 others reported missing.

The rains have damaged roads and bridges and thousands of houses have been flooded or destroyed, especially in riverside communities and poor, hillside neighborhoods that ring the larger cities.

On Tuesday, as much rain fell over a span of 12 hours in Bogota as would be expected in an entire month, according to meteorologists. The downpours caused hours-long traffic jams on waterlogged streets, flooding in parking lots and neighborhoods and power and gas outages.

The farm industry has been hit hard by the torrential rains, Agriculture Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo said, adding that more than 110,000 hectares (271,000 acres) of cultivated land are currently under water.

The weather service warned that the rains, which have intensified in recent days, will last until January.