At least seven people are missing after torrential rains lashed the city of Manizales, government officials said, raising fears the death toll could soar as it did earlier this month in the southern city of Mocoa.
The Red Cross says about 20 people were missing and at least five injured.
President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency in the region.
Classes in Manizales - where some 400,000 people live - as well as water, electricity and gas services in affected neighborhoods were suspended as a precaution.
Handout picture released by the Colombian Army press office showing soldiers helping to evacuate locals following mudslides caused by heavy rains, in Mocoa, Putumayo department, on April 1, 2017.
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Citing the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, the mayor said 96 millimeters (four inches) of rain had fallen, adding that that amount was enough to cause major problems in any city.
The landslides occurred as Colombia is still recovering from the March 31 disaster in Mocoa, and the two incidents drew several immediate parallels. Both also struck hardest at poor people living in precarious housing developments.
Recent heavy rains have endangered residents in dozens of provincial towns, where makeshift construction on the slopes of the Andes mountains makes neighborhoods particularly susceptible to avalanches and flooding.
Colombia's first rainy season of the year came together with "La Niña", a Pacific weather phenomenon, making the tropical rains even more extreme than they usually are.
"I grabbed my daughter and ran", she said. Dirt and planks of wood spilled out from the entrance of a pastel blue-colored home, a set of bright pink curtains on a nearby window still standing.
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