Colombia: Public calamity declared in La Calera due to flooding and impacts

After the horrible night lived by the residents of the La Calera road, affected by the overflow of three streams and the flooding of homes and businesses and washed away vehicles.

In the morning, the governor, Nicolás García, confirmed the death of three people. However, the mayoress of Bogotá, Claudia López, clarified that there are two people dead and a man they are still looking for.

Look: Emergency in Colombia: landslides and floods due to rains on the La Calera – Bogotá road | VIDEOS

The president announced that the deceased are Ángela Patricia Peñarete, 29, and Alejandro Rodríguez, 33, who was missing. In addition, the search work continues to find Javier Velilla, 35, who disappeared on the way to Meta.

Our deepest condolences to the families of Ángela Peñarete and Alejandro Rodríguez, the 2 people who died in this emergency. We already provide support. With specialized team of @bomberosbogota We continue to search for the person who is still missing.

— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) November 13, 2022

“There is one more person missing and we have as much capacity as we can spread out there to see if we can rescue them. That is at the point that is called the path of the Meta”, Claudia López mentioned about the last report they gave her on the situation. Likewise, the Mayor’s Office of La Calera declared a public calamity due to the emergency “to advance the actions in the response and recovery phase in the face of serious affectations and damages caused in the territory, by action of natural events derived from the winter wave” .

This is how the serious emergency in La Calera was experienced One death and dozens of affected is the balance left by the heavy rainfall this Saturday.

For its part, Bomberos Bogotá confirmed that in the sector of kilometer 6 of the road to La Calera, about 250 cubic meters of earth and mud have been removed, thus clearing 80 percent of the road.

The mayoress of Bogota He said in the morning, once he arrived at the emergency area, that they are waiting for CAR Cundinamarca to determine the place to move all the debris. caused by landslides and floods. The president also pointed out that there is a planned site in the municipality of La Calera and that they are working to completely clear the road to be able to carry the debris to that place. She pointed out that after the toll there is another landslide. Yesterday afternoon there was machinery in the area trying to re-establish a lane.

López added that they are already carrying out the census of victims and that the Government of Cundinamarca was lending yellow machinery. He also asked the highway concession to put machinery in the sector. Finally, he expressed his solidarity with the people affected by the flooding of streams and the families of the deceased.

Mayor Claudia López gave an assessment of the situation due to the rains. The president thanked the community for the help in the midst of the emergency and indicated that humanitarian aid is being sought for the victims.

The most serious events occurred on the road to La Calera, in the San Luis neighborhood, in Chapinero Alto. The heavy rains caused the overflow of three streams that affected dozens of houses and commercial businesses.

In the debris removal work, a motorcycle, three vehicles and two houses that were affected have been recovered. It is estimated that the operational period is 12 hours due to the 350 cubic meters of earth that remain to be removed at kilometer five, where a trapped vehicle is located.

Of the deceased people, the name of Ángela Patricia Peñarete, 29, was confirmed, and they are investigating whether they were residents of the area, which is most likely.

This woman was coming up the road when she was seen in the middle of the river that formed on the road and ended up drowning, under a vehicle. Her body was rescued by locals. The second deceased person was identified as Alejandro Rodríguez, 33, who is a security guard for a company in the sector.

Rodríguez is one of the people who was in a vehicle that was swept away by an avalanche, according to a video circulating on social networks.

And although the authorities have not yet confirmed a third fatality, the community does indicate that there are two missing, one of them could be Javier Velilla, a resident of the San Luis area.

There is no report of the other possible missing person and the authorities have not yet confirmed it.

Throughout the night of Saturday, the day of the emergency on the road to La Calera, residents of the area, along with members of emergency response agencies and firefighters, have been in the work of removing debris, recovering the route and the search for the presumed missing persons.

However, members of the community assured this newspaper that they had had to organize themselves and looked for machinery in the area to remove the rubble at night. They also indicated that they collected money to pay for the fuel of the trucks and backhoes, which They got among the same people from the neighborhood, to collect the rubble and advance the rescue of the missing persons.

What the rescuers initially found were trees and vehicles and motorcycles against the housess that are located on the side of the road

Colombia

The inhabitants of the San Luis neighborhood also say that this type of emergency is not the first time that they have occurred.. Last Wednesday, when heavy rains were also registered in the sector, the residents had to remove the water and mud from their homes with buckets, brooms and shovels. In turn, they assured that they felt abandoned by the District and asked for collaboration to face this winter season, which could continue causing irreparable damage to the site.

Debris removal and salvage work continues. (Bogota City Hall /)

The downpour began at noon on Saturday and washed away several passing motorcyclists. A couple who was in one of these vehicles was knocked down and carried away by the current near the church of Santa María del Monte.

In these events, the woman was carried by the water to a car from which she held on to the bumper. This woman was identified as Ángela Patricia Peñarete, 29 years old. The community tried to help her, but due to the force of the water they could not rescue her. At that time, the water reached the waist of the people who were in the shops of the place.

The San Luis sector is perhaps the most affected by the rains. (Bogota City Hall/)

For its part, the streets of the neighborhood were left full of mud, garbage and debris, the same with which the community set up barriers to prevent water from continuing to flow into their premises.

In another of the places there was a landslide that affected a car and a motorcycle that allegedly left three missing..

In the vehicle were two guards who worked in one of the residential complexes in the area and who was picking up his wife, who also worked in the same place.

Until now, the authorities are working on the removal of debris both on the road and in the San Luis sector, as well as on the search for missing persons.

Source: Elcomercio