Columbia mudslides awakened residents of the town of Mocoa Friday night. Because of the heavy flooding, rivers near the area burst caused water to loosen soil and rocks until huge mudslides were formed. Thick mud devoured a total of 17 towns leaving 234 deaths and hundreds missing. Among the missing were dozens upon dozens of children who may have been to slow to escape the rushing mud and rocks.

A loud alarm awaked residents that night which means that there was a disaster, National Geographic reported. Hundreds of residents from Mocoa and nearby towns fled for their lives but those that were too slow and too weak were left behind. It was only the following morning when residents found out the extent of the damage brought out by the Columbia mudslides after a very heavy rainfall.

Homes and buildings were either overturned or filled with thick mud, trollies, cars and jeeps were thrown far from the town while trees were uprooted and scattered like matchsticks. Men and women were running around crying as they looked for family members, children and the elderly. Residents created a list of missing children that they pinned on a board. Hundreds of Columbia mudslides victims cried as they approached the list.

Columbia President Juan Manuel Santos said that efforts to retrieve all the victims won't stop unless the last person has been identified, BBC reported. President Santos flew to the province on Saturday to survey the area and to distribute relief. The Columbian Red Cross was also in the area and is now working closely with families and community leaders to help victims of Columbian mudslides.

More than 1,000 soldiers and police officers are currently in the area. Aside from the province of Mocoa, soldiers are also helping distribute relief in Putamayo. Meanwhile, local experts say that Columbian mudslides may have been because of the worsening El Nino. NOAA reported early March this year that conditions were neither due to El Nino or La Nina and called these "El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) neutral." Peruvian climate experts call this occurrence a coastal El Nino or a smaller version of a similar phenomenon that occurs in the entire Pacific area.

Mocoa and Putamayo are in a region of Columbia with weather conditions similar to regions experiencing Peruvian Coastal El Nino. This could portend to a more severe El Nino and could lead to drastic changes in the climate of the region. Climate change can impact average surface temperatures and even lead to an increase in 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Increase in temperature may have led to the heavy rains and flooding.

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