Floods kill 174, 1.5m homeless

THE toll from weeks of heavy rains across Colombia has risen to 174 people dead and over 1.5 million homeless, the Colombian Red Cross said.

Another 225 people have been injured and 19 were missing, Colombian Red Cross deputy director of operations Cesar Uruena told reporters.

A total of 1,821 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

Some regions, including southwestern Valle del Cauca department, saw more than 12 hours of non-stop rain.

More than a dozen mudslides blocked roads from Valle’s capital Cali to the Pacific port town of Buenaventura, stranding hundreds of trucks and passenger vehicles.

In Roldanillo, another town in Valle, 200 families were evacuated after the Cauca River overflowed.