The death toll rose to 14 when two streams overflowed and caused an avalanche of mud and water in the village of the municipality of Quetame, in the department of Cundinamarca.

“Since 01:30 AM (6:30 GMT), we have been working at the Unified Command Post (PMU) to attend the emergency in Quetame municipality. At the moment, 14 bodies have already been found dead, six people found alive and sent to health posts and hospitals in the province and in the department of Meta and Villavicencio,” said the region’s governor, Nicolás García.

This declared a public calamity and urgency to care for the victims.

The two streams were flooded due to the heavy rain on Monday night. Video from security cameras shows the force with which the mud and water covered the tracks.

The general director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Olmedo López, explained to the agency EFE that among the deceased there are three minors and that the provisionally affected families are temporarily taken to a reception center to be relocated later.

“It was a small community,” said the official, adding that according to data from the Quetame Mayor’s Office, “there are 20 houses missing” under the tons of mud left behind by the avalanche.

López defended that it is necessary “to make progress in the arrangement of the area around the water”, so it must be guaranteed that “this area will never be inhabited again”, but that the inhabitants of the area can reach another safer place in terms of disasters of this caliber.

The landslide occurred near a toll booth some 60 kilometers from the capital Bogotá and destroyed a highway bridge.

The highway between Bogotá and Villavicencio is currently closed.

“Some infrastructure works have been lost, such as the bridge to Villavicencio and a bridge on the sidewalk, but the most important thing today is to save lives. What is being done is the search for families and the guidance of them,” López added.

It was announced that the military was sending 80 soldiers to the area to help search for the missing.