A grim search for the missing has resumed in southern Colombia after surging rivers sent an avalanche of floodwaters, mud and debris through the city of Mocoa, killing more than 250 people.
Mocoa residents on Sunday pried through piles of rocks and wooden planks that entombed houses, while search and rescue teams combed the rubble for signs of life.
Streets were covered in thick sand, mud and tree limbs from the rivers and rainforest that surround Mocoa, the capital of Putumayo, near Colombia's border with Ecuador. There was little drinking water and no power, which forced authorities to suspend the search and rescue effort during the night.
At least 254 people were killed in Saturday's landslides, according to a statement released by the army. Many more were injured and left homeless.
Throughout the city, people dug through the ruins, salvaging what they could of their possessions and looking for the missing.
Dozens of people were in the door of a hospital looking for family members who were not on the list of those confirmed injured or dead. Others frantically knocked on the doors of neighbours, hoping to find someone with information about their relatives.
"People went to their houses and found nothing but the floor," said Gilma Diaz, a 42-year-old woman from another town who came in search of a cousin.
Heavy overnight rainfall caused several rivers to overflow their banks, sending mud and debris crashing onto houses as people slept and sweeping away vehicles and trees.
Many of the victims did not have enough time to climb on top of their roofs, or seek refuge on higher ground.
"We've declared an emergency in the area so we can help people as best we can," Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, who flew to Mocoa on Saturday to oversee rescue efforts, said.
He added that 30 percent of monthly rain fell in just one night.
"All of our hearts are with the victims of this tragedy."
Sorrel Aroca, the governor of Putumayo, called the development "an unprecedented tragedy".
There are "hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighbourhoods have disappeared", he told a local radio station.
"People do not know what to do ... there were no preparations" made for such a disaster, Hernando Rodriguez, a 69-year-old resident told the AFP news agency.
Videos and pictures uploaded to Twitter showed wood planks, mud and piles of rubble from destroyed buildings littering the streets of Mocoa.
Carlos Ivan Marquez, the director of the national disaster agency, said a crisis group, including military units, police and rescue teams, had been activated to search for the missing people, as well as begin removing hundreds of tonnes of debris.
Simon Uribe, a Mocoa-based filmmaker, told Al Jazeera that people were panicking amid rumours of another avalanche coming.
"You can see people running down the streets, families and individuals trying to call their friends," he said.
"But there is no energy at this moment, there is no fuel and the roads are also blocked, so it is very difficult to get in or our of the city," Uribe added.
"But people are panicking, trying to get out of the city," he said. "People are very anxious."
Colombia has been hit by several deadly landslides in recent months.
Last October, a landslide in the north of the country killed 10 people in October last year.
A month later, another landslide killed nine people in the southwestern rural town of El Tambo, officials said at the time.
