Mudslides, Flooding Kill More Than 200 in Colombia

A night of heavy rains caused the Mocoa River and three tributaries to overflow and unleash a torrent of water and mud through a southern town in Colombia, killing more than 200 people. It all happened in the middle of the night, when most people in Mocoa were sleeping, meaning that many didn’t even have enough time to get out of the way of the devastation before they were swept away.

There’s a bit of discrepancy with the death tolls for now. The army said in a statement that 254 people were killed, 400 were injured, and 200 remained missing. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos gave a lower count, writing on Twitter that 193 people had been killed, although he also acknowledged the number was likely to rise.

Santos declared a state of emergency and more than 1,100 soldiers and police officers have been deployed in the region to assist with the rescue effort. Lots of damaged infrastructure meant that it has been difficult for rescue workers to reach the worst-affected areas as entire neighborhoods appear to have been buried by mud.