cholera fears come with flooding in Colombia

Flooding in Colombia has brought with it fears of new cholera cases. From the Latin American Herald Tribune, we find out more about the emergency.

Several reservoirs in Colombia are at the limit of their capacity amid the worst rains on record, and one has already overflowed, while the government acknowledged Friday that it fears a possible outbreak of cholera.

The catastrophic situation that much of the country is going through, in which 271 people have died and more than 2 million are affected, according to the latest official report, has become even more threatening in the northwestern province of Cordoba.

There the Urra Dam overflowed and in turn caused the flooding of the Sinu River, which inundated the homes of at least 2,000 families in several municipalities and in Monteria, the provincial capital, according to Mayor Marcos Pineda.

President Juan Manuel Santos was to visit Friday the municipality of Lorica, Cordoba, where he plans to announce new measures as part of the emergency decreed to combat the effects of the devastating rains.

What happened at Urra could be repeated at another nine hydroelectric dams that generate 84 percent of the energy consumed by Colombians, the daily El Espectador said Friday.>