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(Image: AFP)

The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 220 are missing and 400 were injured in a water avalanche in Mocoa, a city of 350,000 people located near Colombia's border with Ecuador.

The city's residents were unaware of the danger as the river banks broke and the avalanche hit while most were asleep.

Two bridges were also destroyed and there are an unknown number of people missing.

President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed that 153 people had died in the incident as homes and buildings were destroyed.

(Image: TWITTER)

"We will do everything possible to help them," Santos said after confirming the death toll. "It breaks my heart."

Carlos Ivan Marquez with Colombia's national disaster agency says the river flooded around midnight, catching unsuspecting residents off guard in the early Saturday hours.

Emergency response workers were continuing the search for survivors, with the number of reported deaths climbing in the morning hours.

(Image: AFP)

Jose Antonio Castro, the mayor of Mocoa, told local radio Caracol: "It's a big area.

"A big portion of the many houses were just taken by the avalanche, but above all the people were warned with enough time and they were able to get out.

"But houses in 17 neighborhoods have basically been erased."

(Image: AFP)

Carlos Ivan Marquez with Colombia's national disaster agency says the river flooded around midnight, catching unsuspecting residents off guard in the early Saturday hours.

Emergency response workers were continuing the search for survivors, with the number of reported deaths climbing in the morning hours.

President Santos is expected to visit the region on Saturday.