MANATI, Colombia, (Reuters) – Shingled rooftops poke above green, filmy water in a northern Colombian town where flooding has buried the majority of houses, avenues and parks, forcing thousands of people into shelters.
Manati has been under water since a dike broke along the Magdalena River after months of heavy rains across the Andean nation — a microcosm of the disaster that has forced 2.2 million from their homes nation-wide and killed 300 more.
“Everything in the house was lost. My sister didn’t have time to carry out the refrigerator, television or furniture,” said Alejandro Ocampo Escobar, 58, standing almost chest deep in water as he tried to clean part of his family’s pink house.
Downpours caused by La Nina weather phenomenon have battered Colombia, the world’s No. 5 coal exporter, since last year, damaging infrastructure, submerging houses and killing crops and animals in what the government calls the worst natural disaster in Colombia’s history.
Colombia’s tribulations add to a litany of recent flood disasters in Australia, Brazil and neighboring Venezuela.
Colombia’s weather office says La Nina will continue until June, disrupting climate patterns, but rains are expected to be less than in previous months. The U.S. Climate Prediction Center says La Nina is near its peak strength.
Top foreign exchange earners such as coal and coffee have already been impacted. Coal output dropped 5 million tonnes below the 2010 government target, and there are fears the main coffee crop in late 2011 may be hit if the rains do not stop.
