Colombia launches major emergency operations after floods

Terra Daily via AFP: Some 160,000 Colombian police officers and 52 aircraft are participating in emergency operations following deadly floods that killed 67 people and caused widespread damage, officials said Monday. The police are focusing on rescue, evacuation, food distribution, security at shelters, manning state roads and other emergencies, according to a statement from the police directorate.

Heavy rains that battered Colombia this month have so far left 67 dead, 36 wounded and eight missing, while another 98,000 were injured and 183 homes were destroyed. …The heavy rains, triggered by the La Nina weather phenomenon, have caused damage in 28 of the country's 32 departments, and have blocked 16 major roads due to landslides. Some have collapsed entirely….

Map of Colombia by Marburi96, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported