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Colombia Mourns Hundreds Killed in Mudslides
Almost 300 died when rivers surrounding Mocoa overflowed and sent a wall of water and debris surging through the city over the weekend.

A neighborhood is destroyed after flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rains in Mocoa, Colombia on April 3, 2017.
A month's worth of rain fell in a single night late Friday and early Saturday, causing one of the worst recent natural disasters in Colombia.

A woman is surrounded by downed tree limbs on April 2.
Three of the six rivers surrounding Mocoa overran their banks. A wall of muddy brown water and tree limbs raced through the streets, destroying homes and carrying away cars and appliances like driftwood. At least 290 people, many of them children, were swept away, and died, according to the most recent count released by the government Wednesday. There were about 330 injured, including 19 in the hospital, and many still unaccounted for amid the wreckage.



A hillside remains exposed after it collapsed over the weekend from heavy rainfall, on April 3.
Mocoa was vulnerable because of its location, amid a confluence of rivers in the wet subtropical Amazon region of southern Colombia. The danger had grown worse as trees were cut down for cattle ranching and other agriculture, removing critical protection against flooding and landslides. Then came an influx of new residents, many fleeing the violence from the government's long fight with guerrilla forces.

Soldiers and members of the Colombian Red Cross recover the body of a victim on April 3.
The survivors of the deadly flood that washed through this city in southern Colombia started to bury their loved ones after authorities began to release the remains recovered from a disaster that has shaken the country.








Colombian civil defense workers bury the coffin of Jesus Diago, 33, who died rescuing his family on April 4.
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