Colombia mudslide death toll climbs to 293

UPDATE: Mocoa, Colombia begins burying their dead.

Mass funerals started earlier in the week with several tombstones unmarked because of the rush to bury victims.

293 people died in the mudslide that hit Mocoa with 186 victims already identified

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(CNN) — Rescuers in southern Colombia were scrambling Sunday to reach more than 100 people who are missing after devastating mudslides tore through entire communities.

Hundreds are reported dead after torrential rains Friday night caused three rivers surrounding Mocoa, in Putumayo province, to overflow — sending a torrent of mud surging through the city.

Reports of the exact number of those killed in the rugged, remote area vary. The Colombian military said at least 254 are dead and around 400 more injured. The Red Cross reports 234 deaths and said that 158 people were missing. A police officer was among the victims, federal officials said.

President Juan Manuel Santos has declared a state of emergency. Santos put the death toll at 210 but told reporters at the scene that the number could climb.

“The first thing I want to say is that my heart, our hearts, the hearts of all Colombians are with the victims of this tragedy,” he said.

Santos said 43 children were among the dead, and 22 more were hospitalized. Several children have been reunited with their parents; many children are in shelters, he said.

“There are still many missing people. We don’t know where they are. That’s why the system is still trying to locate them and will continue to do so until we find the last person.”

Earlier Santos said, “Many people are coming to us saying, ‘My son is missing, my father is missing, my mother is missing.”

Authorities have identified about 170 of the dead, according to the president.

“Here we are facing a disaster caused by nature, by climate change,” Santos said earlier. He added that the region received nearly 500 millimeters of rain in March, which he said is about 80% more than the usual amount for the month.

Heavy rains, high levels of deforestation, informal housing and dense human populations are some factors that can leave communities vulnerable to landslides, scientists say.

Running for their lives

Aerial footage of the site showed some rooftops poking above the muddy deluge that flattened other homes, bridges and highways.

Power and water supplies to Mocoa have been cut by the disaster, and the hospital system has shut down, firefighters say.

Images showed cars and buses trapped in several feet of mud.

Gabriel Umaña, a spokesman for the Colombian Red Cross, told CNN that 300 families had been displaced and more than two dozen homes had been flattened.

Many were sound asleep when the river of mud hit their neighborhoods, and witnesses said the sludge flowed so fast that they had to run for their lives.

“Around 11, 12 o’clock (on Friday), there was a huge storm, a lot of water. I got up because it sounded so heavy, the sound of the rocks. Everyone (was shocked),” one man at the site said, Reuters reported.

Another wearing yellow rubber boots stood on some rocks as a river of mud streamed by.

“Nobody has given me news. Nobody, nobody. No one from my house or my family. I am at the will of my God. I have nothing. Nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep. These clothes were given to me,” he said.

Residents congregated outside a family welfare center pored over a list of missing people. One listed only children, some as young as 2.

“We have lost a baby, who has gone missing, and the rest is as you can see. A little baby, we can’t find him anywhere,” said one woman, wiping away tears.

President Santos personally comforted Marcelo Garreta, who said he could see dead bodies being carried away by floodwaters but was powerless to help.

“We couldn’t help anybody, because if we tried we would’ve been washed away as well. I saw light poles washed away by the floodwaters. This is a great tragedy,” Garreta said.

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