Iguazu Falls records 10 times higher flow than normal

France Press agency , Posted on Friday, October 14, 2022 at 1:09 pm

Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina recorded a water flow nearly ten times higher than normal on Wednesday, closing one of the main tourism gates on the Brazilian side.

The flow reached 14.5 million liters of water per second on Wednesday evening, coordinator Wimmerson Augusto told AFP, after heavy rains affected the state of Parana in southern Brazil. The flow rate is usually 1.5 million liters per second, he said.

This extraordinary flow forced the protective closure of the tourist footbridge that leads to the Gorge du Diable, the impressive group of waterfalls that are the site’s main attraction. This lane was partially flooded on Wednesday.

Due to the increased flow of the Iguazu River, pedestrian bridges on the Argentine side were closed on Tuesday.

Mr. Augusto said the phenomenon was “atypical” for October.

Parana Civil Defense said, on Wednesday, that 24 municipalities were affected by “serious events”, with floods leaving more than 1,200 people homeless and damaging about 400 homes.

Wednesday’s flow at Iguazu Falls (called Iguazu on the Brazilian side) was the highest since June 2014, when 47 million liters of water flowed per second.

In June 2022, the flow reached 10 million liters, but it was not necessary to restrict access within the park.