Hector Raul Henao wept as he surveyed the barren landscape of mud and uprooted trees that had been a vibrant community of coffee farmers. In the distance, across the still-raging La Libordiana ravine, he pointed to the zinc-roofed house he fled - one of just two left standing in an area devastated by a mudslide that killed at least 78 people.

"I lost half my life," he said on Tuesday amid tears.

When the earth rumbled before dawn on Monday, his 20-year-old son and 2-month-old granddaughter were asleep at another house directly in the flash flood's path. Both died along with several neighbors, their bodies still trapped in the mud.