Biblical rains in Colombia

Dry and wet seasons have merged into a year of nonstop deluge in the country, prompting one resident to say: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

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NOV. 13, 2010

Heavy downpours force contestants to flee the stage during the final crowning event at a beauty pageant at the Argemiro Bermudez softball stadium in Cartagena, Colombia.

JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

April 26, 2011

Floodwaters from the Magdalena River surround homes in Honda in central Colombia.

William Fernando Martinez / AP

May 21, 2011

Vehicles are driven through a flooded highway in Chia, on the northern outskirts of the Colombian capital, Bogota. Heavy rains have caused flooding and landslides throughout the country and left many displaced.

William Fernando Martinez / AP

April 22, 2011

A man wades through a flooded street in Yotoco, southern Colombia. The country has encountered heavy rains since November.

Carlos Julio Martinez / AP

Dec. 15, 2010

Farmland sits under floodwater in La Victoria in southern Colombia.

Fernando Vergara / AP

May 21, 2011

Cows are stranded in flooded areas in Chia, on the northern outskirts of Bogota.

William Fernando Martinez / AP

May 20, 2011

Men ride horses through a flooded area in San Benito, northern Colombia. The torrential rains are Colombia's worst since recordkeeping began nearly half a century ago.

LUIS ACOSTA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

May 21, 2011

Residents in a boat navigate down a flooded farm in the municipality of Cajica, on the northern outskirts of Bogota. The torrential downpours have flooded a swath of farmland the size of Connecticut.

GUILLERMO LEGARIA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 18, 2010

Residents gather at the flooded San Diego neighborhood in southern Bogota. Colombians are wondering how they will dig out from all the muck.

Fernando Vergara / ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 14, 2011

Cars dragged by floods caused by heavy rains are piled up in Barranquilla, Colombia.

/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 30, 2010

A parking lot in Palmira, Colombia, is flooded after the Frayle River overflowed its banks because of heavy rains.

LUIS ROBAYO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 18, 2010

Residents drain their homes in a flooded neighborhood in southern Bogota. Through its National Calamities Fund, the government has spent $2.5 billion on flood relief and reconstruction and plans to spend an additional $1.3 billion.

Fernando Vergara / AP

Nov. 13, 2010

Children clean an area affected by flooding in Bello municipality, Colombia, after heavy storms caused severe damage in the region.

RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 17, 2010

A woman's house in Jamundi, Colombia, is flooded. The relentless downpours have displaced or damaged the homes of 3.7 million people.

LUIS ROBAYO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 26, 2010

Members of a family pick up belongings from their home in the San Agustin del Sur neighborhood in Caracas after a landslide caused by heavy rains.

MIGUEL GUTIERREZ / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

April 27, 2011

Police evacuate residents from homes destroyed by a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Medellin in northwestern Colombia.

Luis Benavides / AP

April 27, 2011

Neighbors remove rubble while searching for survivors after a landslide in the Santo Domingo Savio suburb in east Medellin.

RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

April 27, 2011

Rescuers and neighbors remove rubble after a landslide in the Santo Domingo Savio suburb in east Medellin.

RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 14 , 2010

Rescuers and policemen carry a corpse found amid the rubble of a house after a landslide in a suburb in La Sierra neighborhood, east of Medellin.

RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Dec. 8, 2010

A soldier maintains guard as a woman remains outside her house near the site of a landslide caused by heavy rains in La Gabriela neighborhood, north of Medellin.

RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

May 20, 2011

A woman whose farm was flooded stands on the side of a road, where she set up temporary shelter, in San Benito, northern Colombia.

William Fernando Martinez / AP

Dec. 6, 2010

Residents of La Gabriela neighborhood who lost their homes in a landslide, which buried houses and trapped dozens beneath mud and rubble after weeks of downpours, sit on the sidewalk while rescue workers search for survivors in Bello, northwestern Colombia.

Luis Benavides / ASSOCIATED PRESS

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