President Donald Trump on Tuesday

“This entire hut. Our belongings, what little we had. Everything was lost,” said Mengual, who makes ends meet by recycling scrap material in Maicao.The Wayuu, the largest Indigenous group in Colombia, are facing the dual threats of climate change-driven droughts and floods. Scientists warn that more severe, prolonged drought periods punctuated by flashes of torrential rain

. Aside from damaging people’s homes, they are also draining water sources, destroying crops, and increasing health risks from waterborne diseases. Many Wayuu families are forced to migrate in search of essential resources, putting even more pressure on already overcrowded urban areas.An Indigenous woman from the Wayuu community feeds her baby in the Belen neighborhood on the outskirts of Riohacha, Colombia, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)An Indigenous woman from the Wayuu community feeds her baby in the Belen neighborhood on the outskirts of Riohacha, Colombia, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Ingrid Gonzalez, a Wayuu community leader from Maracaibo who’s lived in the Villa del Sol settlement near Riohacha for six years, says those more traditional Wayuu homes, made with sticks and covered in mud, are very susceptible to the rainy season.“There are many, many houses that flood and fill up with water,” said 29-year-old Gonzalez. “A strong river of water passes through here, and the mud houses collapse.”

“Some people manage to preserve their homes by reinforcing them, but the damage is still significant,” she said. “Several of my own roofing sheets were blown off.”

Samuel Lanao, head of Corpoguajira, La Guajira’s environment authority, said in 2024 extreme winter floods caused significant losses of homes, crops, and domestic animals in Indigenous communities, particularly among those coming from neighboring Venezuela. “Because of climate change, there’s been a rise in vector-borne diseases like dengue and Zika. Dengue, in particular, has hit Indigenous communities very, very hard,” he said.Here’s what to know about auroras and how to spot them.

The sun is at the maximum phase of its, making the light displays more common and widespread. Colorful northern lights have decorated night skies in unexpected places and space weather experts say there are more auroras still to come.

“This is going to kind of continue off and on throughout the year,” Dahl said.Last spring, the strongest geomagnetic storm in two decades slammed Earth,