Heavy Rain in Rio de Janeiro Floods Streets

Flooded street in Icaraí

Last night, after Fluminense (a Rio soccer team) won the Brazilian Soccer Championship, the festivities were cut short due to an incredible storm that came through Rio de Janeiro. Within an hour streets around Rio and Niterói were flooded with up to three feet of water (between 7pm and midnight over six inches of rain fell in some areas).

Russell and I were walking down the beach from his dad's house to his mom's house when the rain started. We ended up stranded at his mom's house for the night because the entire road in front of of the complex was flooded - not even buses were passing, and that is saying a lot because buses will generally go anywhere regardless of weather. A few drivers tried to go through the rising water - all except for a large truck were stopped in their tracks and the drivers had to get help from passer-bys (sometimes offering money) to push their cars out of the water. Some of the cars that were parked on the street are surely destroyed. One brand new Honda was covered over its tires with water and when that large truck passed by it began floating on top of the massive wave that was created.

Many people waded through the flooded street to get to wherever they needed to be. Some women were up to their waists in water. The most heart-breaking thing came when a family of homeless people begged and pleaded for shelter under the building, but they were turned away by the doorman. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like being homeless, in a downpour, wet from head to toe, and no place dry to lay your head down. I also wonder if any favelas fell.

December is the month of pulverization for favelas. This time last year is when the state of Rio was in a state of emergency due to all of the landslides that killed hundreds and blocked roads for weeks - they are still dealing with these landslides today, we saw many of them on our way to Paraty. Everybody is saying that yesterday's storm was just an introduction for what is to come.

Lightning in Icaraí

On the bright side, all of the lightning was very beautiful. There were strikes at least every 20 seconds. There was a huge amount of lightning all night long. I have never seen a lightning storm last for so long. It was incredibly beautiful and only added to the power of the storm.

There is supposed to be another one coming tonight... I don't know if it will be as strong. Rather than the normally hot days and rainy nights, yesterday's storm came after 3-4 dry days and nights, so I think all the rain from the previous days were just packed into one punch. I guess I'll find out tonight! Pray for all the people on the hills and on the street.