Colombia: Tens of Thousands Ordered to Evacuate after Floods at Dam

May 16, 2018 | Joe Parkin Daniels, Guardian
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Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes in western Colombia after heavy floods at Colombia’s largest hydroelectric dam project, which had already displaced hundreds over the weekend. The Hidroituango dam on the river Cauca was in the final stages of construction when a blocked tunnel was cleared on Saturday night, causing flooding downstream that swept through a riverside hamlet. Six hundred people were left homeless and two bridges, two schools and a health centre were destroyed.