By Adam Liebendorfer and Juan Forero

It’s been called Colombia’s Katrina, a full year of relentless downpours that have displaced or damaged the homes of 3.7 million people, ruptured major highways, burst dikes and killed hundreds, many in mudslides that engulfed poor communities.

With no reprieve, dry and rainy seasons have merged, with one deluge following another. In remote hamlets, police now patrol from canoes. A swath of farmland the size of Connecticut has been flooded, slamming the country’s vital flower industry and wiping out everything from rice to banana plantations.

And here just north of Bogota, the capital, Jorge Castiblanco wonders what happened to 16 of his 20 milk cows.

“It’s almost like we’re being punished,” said Castiblanco, 64, standing on his soggy farm in the country’s central savannah, which was not spared despite being 8,000 feet above sea level. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

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