The Rio de Janeiro City Hall informed that at 8 pm yesterday (7), the city entered an alert stage due to rainfall records above 25 millimeters (mm) at the Jardim Botânico (30.4mm), Vidigal (26.8mm) and Muda (25.8mm) stations.
According to Sistema Alerta Rio, more intense rain nuclei continued to act in the regions around the Tijuca massif, causing heavy rain. The tendency is for this scenario to remain.
The forecast is for moderate to heavy rain. Rio was in an alert stage as of 5:40 pm due to bad weather.
The alert stage is the fourth level on a scale of five and means that one or more serious occurrences impact the city or there is the simultaneous incidence of several medium and high-impact problems in different regions.
SITUATION
The Light Rail Vehicle (VLT) system, which circulates through the city’s central region, the port area, Rio Branco Avenue, and Santos Dumont Airport, has all lines paralyzed due to the storm.
Stretches of flooded streets prevented trains from circulating.
The trains that connect Parada dos Navios to Santos Dumont airport, Praça XV to Confeitaria Colombo, and the Central do Brasil/Santos Dumont airport line are out of circulation.
The City Hall Operations Center informed, at 6:30 pm, that traffic congestion in the city was 133% higher.
In the city center, the urban buses stopped running. The region of the traditional bohemian neighborhood of Lapa is one of the hardest hit by flooding.
There were pockets of water on Rua dos Inválidos, Mem de Sá, and Rua Visconde de Rio Branco, as well as Avenida Gomes Freire and Rua da Relação, where passenger cars were driving backward.
There were records of flooding on Avenida Presidente Vargas.
The Mangue Canal that runs along the avenue almost overflowed near the Passarela do Samba.
The neighborhoods of São Cristóvão and Méier, in the North Zone, were very affected by the rain.
Taquara, in the west zone, and Laranjeiras and Catete, in the south zone, were completely flooded.
AVENIDA BRASIL FLOODED
Avenida Brasil, the main connection to the neighborhoods in the port area, north, and west, was flooded. Not even buses were getting through.
SuperVia trains were practically not running due to the pockets of water that reached the railroad network in several stretches.
The railway line was flooded, and the trains are not leaving the Central do Brasil terminal.
Due to the storm that hit Rio at 3 pm, the city’s routine has changed. The urban bus, train, and subway transportation system was practically paralyzed.
The City Hall Operations Center recommends that people stay in safe places, avoiding going out on the streets because traffic is complicated and several streets and avenues are blocked.
According to a survey by the Operations Center, there were 62 pockets of water in the city and flooding on Getúlio street, in Cachambi, in Campo de São Cristóvão, and on Rio Jequiá road, in Ilha do Governador.
The plaster ceiling of the Nova América shopping mall in Del Castilho, in the North Zone, collapsed due to the storm, but nobody was hurt. The area was isolated. The shopping center remains open to the public.
With information from Agência Brasil