Rising Cauca River threatens La Mojana Sucreña - Other Cities - Colombia

The heavy rains that have hit various regions of the country in recent weeks caused a new alert in the La Mojana subregion due to new floods in the sector known as ‘cat’s face’.

In this area, located in San Jacinto del Cauca, Bolívar, reconstruction work is being carried out on a hole to prevent flooding in the 11 municipalities included in the departments of Sucre, Bolívar, Córdoba and Antioquia.

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However, the rains caused the Cauca river to have a sudden rise of 1.90 meterswhich caused alert and concern in this area of ​​the country, since the works were affected.

The first complaints from the residents indicated that the works, which have been going on for more than five months, had collapsed.

This situation occurred at the same time that the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), in charge of the work, announced that the union of the southern end and the northern end of a 1,234 m jarillón had been carried out. in length, a key step for this emergency mitigation work.

“The megabags were moved from the place of closure and a space of approximately 40 to 50 meters was opened again, in addition, the power lines located in the sector were demolished, leaving Guaranda without electricity,” said Arcesio Paredes, a resident of San Jacinto del Cauca.

(Read: More than 3 thousand families affected in Chocó by heavy rains)

However, from the UNGRD they clarify that this situation does not mean that the works have collapsed. Although they acknowledge that a rise of 1.90 meters was not expected, which caused the water to exceed the level at the time of the work, this was not the final level.

In other words, after closing the points, which was what was achieved this week, The next step is to increase the level to avoid damages after a flood like the one that occurred this week.

“We are on the ground and we have never stopped working on the construction site. We will continue working on this stream until the level is above the levels of the Cauca River so that the water does not exceed the structure, thus mitigating the impact of the floods in the entire La Mojana region. The Unit team met yesterday with the communities and authorities in the area to jointly continue these works, which by their very nature are complex. Our commitment to the communities continues”, assured the director of the UNGRD, Eduardo José González.

For the communities surrounding the ‘cat face’ sector, it is necessary to wait for the levels of the Cauca River to drop before resuming the closure works and once again solving the situation that has arisen.

“If it continues to rain and the river grows, we will be headed for a new emergency due to flooding. We trust that this is not the case and that the closure in this place is a reality,” Paredes said.

In addition, for leaders of the La Mojana region, the closure with the megabags is not enough to conclude the work in this critical point of the region.

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They say that a dredging job must be done in the place and on an island that was formed in front of ‘cat’s face’, in addition to building a garden in the back of where the Risk Unit carried out the work.

In fact, yesterday the dredging work began in this sector, reported the UNGRD
“This is just the beginning. The definitive closure in the place is with the completion of the complementary works”, the leaders of the region have stated.

To continue with the work, there are seven crawler backhoes, eight dump trucks, a dredger and two boats with the required machinery in the area.

NATION AND SINCELEJO

Governor of Sucre denounces ELN presence in La Mojana - Other Cities - Colombia

Governor Héctor Espinosa Oliver denounced that armed persons wearing armbands of the National Liberation Army -ELN- are in the municipal seat of Sucre (Sucre), in the sub-region of La Mojana.

The official made the video complaint indicating that he coordinates all actions with the Colombian Army, the Navy and the National Police to regain control of the population and guarantee the safety of its inhabitants.

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“I want to send a message to the population that we are at the forefront of this emergency and that we are not going to rest until the situation returns to normal,” said Governor Héctor Espinosa.

He reiterated the call to the public force, including defense minister Diego Molano, to restore public order in the municipality.

“We are not going to rest for a minute until this happens and we hope that soon we will be informing the inhabitants of Sucre (Sucre) that there are conditions of tranquility and security in the territory,” said the official.

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It was established that personnel from the Colombian Army, an institution that has this security jurisdiction in Sucre, has been at the forefront of the actions to counteract any presence of the group outside the law.

In the same way, the staff of the National Police is present in the urban area, without any disturbance of public order so far.

there is tranquility

Despite the warning made by the governor of Sucre Héctor Espinosa, inhabitants of Sucre (Sucre) stated that there is tranquility in the population and that they have not seen the presence of strange personnel.

“With the information provided by the governor, the inhabitants locked themselves in, the streets were left alone, but no one has seen anything strange. Recently, a plane flew over for several minutes and then left, ”said a resident of the municipality, who requested that his identity be kept confidential.

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He also said that historically there is no known ELN presence in the La Mojana subregion, contrary to what happened with the FARC.

Francis Xavier Barrios
Special for WEATHER
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Tutela, ranchers from La Mojana seek subsidies promised by the Government - Other Cities - Colombia

Through a guardianship, the ranchers of La Mojana (Between Bolívar and Sucre) hope that the Ministry of Agriculture opens the platform for the registration of 1,800 members and they can cancel the promised subsidies, as a result of the damage suffered by the floods.

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According to Enrique Martínez, president of the Cattlemen’s Association of La Mojana, the vast majority of the members of the association went bankrupt and could not register their names to receive aid from the National Government.

platform for recognition
of all the farmers affected

… could not do anything, only through a court order could the platform be put at the service of the guild again

He said that the registration platform was open for 8 days and 1,800 of the affected ranchers were unable to access the registry.

“Ariel Zambrano, deputy director of the National Risk Management Unit, said that he could not do anything and that only through a court order could the platform be put at the service of the union again,” explained Enrique Martínez.

He pointed out that this is how they agreed to make use of that tool that seeks to open the platform for the recognition of all affected ranchers.

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“There are more than 20,000 head of cattle that were lost during the floods. All the ranchers suffered with the emergency caused by the Cauca River and now it is expected that we will be able to access those resources”, they specified.

controversy over the situation

80,000 cattle are not moved from one place to another in two or three days. This takes time and it was not possible to register all the small farmers who lost everything

The situation suffered by ranchers and the non-registration of the vast majority of small and medium-sized owners in the single registry of the Ministry of Agriculture to receive aid has caused much controversy in the region.

Enrique Martínez, president of the union, said that when the registration platform opened, the ranchers were taking the animals to dry places to avoid further damage and could not register.

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“80,000 cattle are not moved from one place to another in two or three days. This takes time and it was not possible to register all the small ranchers who lost everything, ”he explained.

He also said that the deputy director of the Risk Unit was intransigent with the union, by not wanting to open the registration platform again and telling them that “too bad if they could not register.”

He affirmed that the guardianship was filed by ranchers from Majagual, Guaranda and Sucre, all from the La Mojana sub-region, that it was admitted and that the Ministry of the Interior, the Presidential Council for the Regions, the National Unit for Risk Management and the three municipalities.

They hope that the guardianship in its entirety will be ruled in favor of the ranchers and that they will be able to receive the promised aid.

Francis Xavier Barrios
Special for WEATHER
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Mojana: they ask to speed up works in the face of a cat before the threat of winter - Other Cities - Colombia

Inhabitants of the Rabón areain the jurisdiction of the municipality of Guaranda, in La Mojana expressed their concern, because they consider that the work being carried out in the cat face break will not be effective by the end of February, as announced by the National Risk Management Unit, responsible of the mitigation works in this region, between the departments of Bolívar and Sucre.

This has been stated by leaders, merchants, ranchers, rice farmers, farmers in general, who arrived at the scene of the emergency with the face of a cat and returned alarmed because They assure that the works do not advance.

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Works are worth 2.5 billion pesos

One of them in Darinel Regino, owner of the ‘El Tamarindo’ farm, located in the jurisdiction of the New Hope corregimiento.

“Since September we have been flooded in La Mojana and in this case I make special mention of the Rabón area. We made a visual inspection of the works that are being carried out and we leave very disappointed, scared, because the works that are being carried out do not guarantee that this year we will not be flooded, ”he said.

The President of the Republic, Iván Duque, promised at the beginning of October 2021 that the works to solve the floods in the La Mojana subregion, in four departments, will be carried out in two phases, one with immediate execution works and the second with the construction of the Directional Breakwater with hydraulic gates.

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The president assured that they will invest 2.5 billion pesos to solve this historical problem that each winter season leaves thousands of victims, millionaire losses, and a rich region considered a pantry, plunged today into poverty. The resources to intervene in La Mojana are backed by a Conpes public policy document as a national strategic project.​

By canoe, this is how they must travel through some parts of the country to vaccinate Colombians.

Photo:

Courtesy Martin Acuña.

They ask staff who know the local hydraulics

Regino explained that they are working and that the people designated for the works are interested in carrying them out and officials from the National Risk Management Unit are permanently present at the site and do their best to cover up the break. cat face.

“The inspection we have done, the interviews with the farmers in the area, who know the dynamics of the Cauca River, tell us that very soon it will grow and we will see the containment bags that they are placing in the region of The Sierpe”, he affirmed.

They made a new call to the central government to take urgent letters. They request that they pay more attention to the cat’s face and that the work be carried out by qualified personnel who know the local hydraulics.

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“Send machinery of the quality and quantity necessary to cover the rupture caused by the river. It’s not that they don’t want to do it, but the seriousness and magnitude of the problem is greater than the capacity of the people who are working”, he expressed.

Likewise, he specified that what is recorded in the region is a race against time and the inhabitants of the area pray for the Cauca River to go down.

In the midst of last year’s tragedy, the Government maintained that rapid interventions must be made in the 10 critical points in each of the municipalities, but a structural solution is also required that must be executed in four phases over a six-year period. .

The river rose and carried away the containment bags that had been placed

… I have already lost 35 hectares of rice that were ready for fumigation, I have also lost the animals, including poultry, pigs and cattle, and I do not want history to repeat itself”

Another of the growers who lives in the Nueva Esperanza corregimiento asks for the help of the national government because of the critical state they are in when they lose everything.

“We do not see results from the work they are doing, I have already lost 35 hectares of rice that were ready for fumigation, I also lost the animals, including poultry, pigs and cattle, and I do not want history to repeat itself,” he said.

He also stated that they do not see safety in the work being carried out, because recently the river rose and took away the containment bags that had been placed.

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The growers of the Mojana sub-region have stated that now they do not know what to do, because the land can no longer be sown, much less have animals.

The communities assure that the situation is the same between the farmers of La Mojana and El San Jorge, because some lost more and others less hectares cultivated with rice and pancoger.

Flooding in La Mojana

Risk Management promises that on February 28 there will be a definitive closure

…we continue to maintain, according to information from contractors and auditors, the closure for the end of February of the current year

The national director of the National Risk Management Unit, Eduardo José González, said after an inspection visit to the works, that on February 28 they will definitely cover the cat face hole.

“We have made enormous progress on all fronts and on the piles that are in the middle and we continue to maintain, according to information from contractors and inspectors, the closure for the end of February of the current year,” he said.

The official explained that they received additional proposals to increase working hours, with the operation of more machinery, in a channel that faced cat face.

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“Community, delegates, representatives, mayors, representatives of the Government, ranchers, unions and the National Government with the National Risk Management Unit are all working together,” González stressed, after a meeting in the Unified Command Plan -PMU -.

The day that said Conpes document was signed for the mitigation works in La Mojana, Duque assured: “Here the solution, the resources, the Conpes document are established and the idea is to start the works as of January 2022, with a key, the 10 interventions that are immediate are consistent with the structural solution”.

The first work to prevent Mojana from flooding, according to President Duque, must be carried out at the point known as ‘Cara de Gato’, between San Jacinto del Cauca and Guaranda, an area today in emergency again due to threats of flooding in the entire region.

Francis Xavier Barrios
Special for WEATHER
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