Los Angeles Times
Heavy rains continue as Colombia seeks to aid flood victims
December 16--Weeks of rain has caused flooding that has claimed more than 250 lives and affected more than 1.9 million people. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is to offer advice on how to repair a breached levee.
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Reporting from Bogota, Colombia — Even as the government struggled to get emergency relief to thousands of flood victims, torrential rains continued to batter northern Colombia on Wednesday, adding to the misery caused by one of the worst natural disasters in this nation's modern history.
Weeks of rainfall — and the breach of an important canal levee — has caused flooding that has killed 257 people and affected more than 1.9 million residents, or nearly 5% of the population. An exact count of those left homeless by water damage in several parts of Colombia was unavailable, but the total is believed to be in the tens of thousands.
The collapsed levee along the Dique Canal in northern Atlantico state remained breached Wednesday, and water continued to deluge surrounding towns and farmland. In one town alone, Campo de la Cruz, 18,000 residents have been left homeless.
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