River breaks dams and floods parts of north of country

Over the 13 -14 December 2008 weekend the Magdalena River broke several dams, flooding areas in the northern part of Colombia. The flooding began in Heredia, a village in the Pedraza municipality of Magdalena department, which left 380 families homeless. On 14 December a dam broke in the municipality of Plato, also in Magdalena, leaving approximately 5,000 people homeless. Officials estimate that it will take approximately two weeks for the water level to return to normal and have established temporary homeless shelters in the meantime.