Severe Storms and Lightening

https://notiespartano.com/2017/12/30/murieron-dos-soldados-impacto-rayo-catatumbo/

Colombia is a country located in the tropics and respectively has an abundant amount of rainfall every year; however, it is particularly susceptible to severe storms and lightening. In 2010 Colombia was listed as the third most affected country by extreme weather according to European NGO, German watch. Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, near the border with Colombia holds the world record for the most lightening place struck on earth, receiving an average of 233 lightening strikes per square km per year. This region is so susceptible to lightening because the cool air from the Andes mountains converges with the warm air from the coast to form many thunderstorms every year.

Lightening over Lake Maracaibo
https://www.univision.com/noticias/medio-ambiente/el-catatumbo-la-nueva-capital-de-los-rayos-en-el-mundo

These storms present truly magnificent displays of lightening dancing across the skies, striking with the awesome power of the wild nature of the tropics. Unfortunately this is not all they do. During the wet season (May to November) it can rain tremendously for days and weeks without stopping. On June 9th and 10th of 2016 severe storms affected much of northern Colombia. During just a 24 hour period Earth Networks Total Lightning Network detected over 70,000 lightning strikes across the country which prompted 23 Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts (DTA’s), a unique severe weather warning exclusive to Earth Networks.

These massive storms also cause destruction of farmlands. In the storm of June 9th and 10th, 2016 much of the livestock died along with cultivations of beans, corn, peas, paprika, passion fruit, avocado, onion, tomato and bananas in Capitanlargo. Farmers from the villages of El Rosario, Paloquemao, El Potrero, La Rojas, Llanitos, Bellavista and Gallinetas lost all of their crops.

http://www.banastat.com/banana-loses-in-colombia-push-up-the-international-markets/

Heavy rains can also cause mass wasting which I discussed in a previous post how devastating this can be to people, property, and the natural environment. In the picture below you can see a large landslide that occurred in Choco due to the aforementioned thunderstorm. This specific landslide killed 8 people and left 30 missing. 

https://www.earthnetworks.com/blog/severe-storms-colombia/

As to what Colombia is doing to mitigate the affects of these tremendous storms on their people and economy, the NGO warned in 2010 that Colombia needed to strengthen its defenses against winter rains which that year left over two million people without homes. Colombia is one of the most susceptible countries in the world to extreme weather conditions due to it's geographical location and unique weather conditions. In the past 10 years they have made great strides to implement disaster risk reduction policies. They continue to renew and revise policies, set up evacuation plans, educate the public, and put out warnings for disasters. Though there is still progress to be made, Colombia is making great leaps despite limited economic resources. "Our priority is to save lives and we will not rest until the emergency is overcome," stated the previous president, Juan Manuel Santos, when he addressed the 6th Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas. “Today, we can state that the country is much more prepared to answer any emergency it faces. We have good systems of coordination.”

https://www.unisdr.org/archive/58870

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/central-south-america-colombia-flooding-natural-disasters-volcano-eruptions/47826395

https://colombiareports.com/colombia-tops-list-of-countries-affected-by-severe-weather/