The rains sweeping across Colombia since late January have transformed much of the country’s landscape into a state of emergency, with severe impacts in areas such as the Caribbean region, Antioquia, and the Coffee Axis. What had been a relatively moderate season has turned into an atypical precipitation phenomenon, with cold fronts intensifying downpours in regions that did not expect such volumes of rain at this time of year.
Official figures reveal that thousands of families have seen their lives disrupted, thousands of homes have been flooded or reduced to rubble, and vast productive areas have suffered irreparable damage. The crisis has laid bare the country’s climate vulnerability and the urgent need to rethink prevention and response strategies to increasingly extreme hydrometeorological events, as a result — according to experts — of climate change.
The social and economic impact of these rains is deep and far-reaching. As rivers and streams overflow their banks, the consequences hit hardest in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural areas, where recovery capacity is limited and formal support networks are insufficient.
In the Colombian Caribbean and in regions such as Antioquia and the Coffee Axis, entire communities are struggling to salvage what remains of their homes and crops, which are the main source of livelihood for generations. Water, relentless, has become a symbol of devastation and challenge for thousands of families.
In the south of the department of Córdoba—also in the Caribbean—a predominantly agricultural and livestock-farming area, the losses amount to millions.
Colombia hit by floods from the Caribbean to the Coffee Axis, thousands impacted
In the lowest-income neighborhoods of large cities and in isolated rural areas, the rains have left a trail of devastation that is difficult to quantify in numbers. Families already living on the edge of precariousness now face the total loss of their homes or, at best, damage that forces them to live with dampness, mold, and structural insecurity.
In Antioquia, according to recent reports, more than 7,000 people have been declared affected, with dozens of landslides and schools converted into makeshift shelters.
Isolation caused by collapsed bridges and saturated soils has cut off entire communities, creating a scenario in which humanitarian aid arrives in dribs and drabs and often depends on the cooperation of military forces and rescue agencies to cross swollen rivers and impassable roads.
Displaced families suffer not only the loss of material goods but also the disruption of daily life. School closures, interrupted basic services, and lack of access to fresh food and medicines worsen an emergency marked by uncertainty and emotional fatigue.
Stories of nighttime evacuations, escapes from flash floods, and nights spent in shelters reflect a human drama repeated across multiple departments. Authorities have tried to mitigate the crisis with logistical assistance and basic aid, but weather conditions and the scale of the phenomenon have overwhelmed institutional capacity in many areas.
#AEstaHora
Estamos en la zona rural del distrito de Santa Marta realizando una visita prioritaria para identificar los daños en el puente de Mendihuaca. Magdalena y La Guajira permanecen incomunicados por el colapso de esta estructura en el kilómetro 37, tras la fuerte creciente… pic.twitter.com/0g7GJf3BEr— Margarita Guerra (@mmarguiguerra) February 3, 2026
Blow to the heart of the countryside: bananas and coffee
Agriculture, the backbone of many regional economies, has been severely hit by excess water. In the Caribbean, departments such as Cordoba, Magdalena, and La Guajira are facing a crisis that residents say has not been seen in decades.
The collapse of key infrastructure, such as the bridge over the Mendihuaca River, has disrupted essential transport routes for bananas, one of Colombia’s most important export products. This collapse not only slows cargo movement but also significantly increases logistics costs, affecting competitiveness and putting the financial stability of small and medium-sized producers at risk.
In the Uraba region, the epicenter of banana cultivation, more than 1,200 hectares of crops have been flooded for prolonged periods, which, according to industry groups, could mean total losses for those plantations. Prolonged waterlogging destroys roots and makes harvesting unviable on many family-run and mid-sized farms.
Bananas, which sustain thousands of jobs and supply local and international markets, are seeing reduced production just as the sector was recovering from previous challenges.
“This water saturation has caused the collapse of main channels and has left plantations flooded for more than 96 hours, which will lead to the total loss of the crops,” warned the Association of Banana Growers of Colombia (Augura), referring to what has occurred in the region’s main crop.
In addition, the spokesperson for the association, Emerson Aguirre, called for “urgent help” from the government to deal with the economic consequences of the disaster. Aguirre advocated reactivating aid mechanisms and credit lines to recover waterlogged areas and restore production that sustains hundreds of families.
No less serious is the impact on the Coffee Axis, where the rains have altered growing conditions for coffee, one of Colombia’s emblematic products. Although detailed loss reports are still being compiled, producers say soil saturation and intermittent flooding are delaying flowering and harvesting, increasing the incidence of fungal diseases in the plants.
The region, already affected by climate variations in recent years, now faces a new challenge that could reduce annual production and generate economic effects that will reverberate throughout the entire production chain.