At least 16 people have died in Colombia after two of the country's main rivers overflowed due to heavy rains, flooding nearby communities, officials say.

Floods caused by the Cauca and the Magdalena rivers have affected 27 of the country's 32 provinces, or departments, officials told The Associated Press.

The flood waters have affected more than 100,000 people, damaged more than 10,000 houses and destroyed crops in much of the nation's agricultural heartland, a government report said.

And officials from the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies warned residents that the rainy season would continue until mid-June.

Forecasters also predicted that the rains will intensify in the next few days.

Livelihoods gone

Rescue workers in the affected regions have been assisting residents in removing belongings from flooded homes.

"Our situation here is that the river flooded everything. It damaged all the crops - look at the banana plantations - the river also killed my pet," one resident, Guillermo Hernandez, told Reuters.

Others said the flood waters would have long-term repercussions for their livelihoods.

"The crops are all gone because the papaya dies immediately and it takes time for the banana plantations to produce again. Any help that someone could give to us will be welcome," Julio Gonzalez also told Reuters.

On Wednesday the flooding also hit residents in the central and south west provinces of Cundinamarca, Tolima, Valle and Cauca, the government said.

And in the northern city of Baranquilla, residents tied their cars to lampposts and trees to avoid them being swept away by flood waters.

Last year in Colombia heavy rains killed 58 people, injured 111 and left 14 others missing, officials said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Colombian police ride horses through a flooded street in Puerto Salgar May 28, 2008.

Al-Jazeera