AFP, published on Friday, October 14, 2022 at 1:09 p.m.
Iguazu Falls, on the border between Brazil and Argentina, recorded a water flow almost ten times higher than normal on Wednesday, which led to the closure of one of the main tourist gateways of the Brazilian side.
The flow reached 14.5 million liters of water per second on Wednesday evening, following heavy rains that affected the state of Parana, in southern Brazil, Wemerson Augusto, the coordinator, told AFP. communication of the natural park. Typically, the flow rate is 1.5 million liters per second, he said.
This extraordinary flow forced the preventive closure of the tourist footbridge which leads to the Gorge du Diable, a spectacular set of waterfalls which represent the main attraction of the site. This walkway was partially flooded with water on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, due to the increased flow of the Iguazu River, footbridges had already been closed on the Argentinian side.
Mr. Augusto said that this phenomenon was “atypical” for the month of October.
The Civil Defense of Parana said on Wednesday that 24 municipalities had been affected by “serious events”, with floods that left more than 1,200 people homeless and damaged nearly 400 houses.
Wednesday’s flow at Iguazu Falls (called Iguaçu on the Brazilian side) is the highest since June 2014, when 47 million liters of water flowed per second.
In June 2022, the flow had reached 10 million liters, but it had not been necessary to limit access within the park.