Flooding leaves thousands homeless in Colombia by Alex Deakin
Over 50,000 people in northern Colombia remained homeless on Monday after weeks of heavy rain swelled the Magdalena River and flooded thousands of homes.
In the city of Plato in Magdalena province of northern Colombia, more than 20,000 people were left homeless after the river broke through levees inundating homes, roads and crops. In some places, floodwaters reached chest-high, completely submerging cars and washing entire homes away.
The Magdalena River rises on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains in southern Colombia. It flows northwards through the centre of the country for about 950 miles (1,530 km) and empties into the Caribbean Sea near Barranquilla.
Since mid September heavy rain has plagued much of Colombia. It has affected more than one million people and claimed the lives of 60 people. Colombia is generally very wet all year round, with the exception of the Caribbean coast which has a drier period from December to March.
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