RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Heavy rains late Tuesday and yesterday paralyzed much of Rio de Janeiro, a tropical metropolis scrambling to improve infrastructure to prepare to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
More rain fell overnight around the city, Brazil’s second biggest, than would normally be expected during the entire month, meteorologists said. The downpour flooded major thoroughfares, toppled houses in working class suburbs, disrupted train and flight schedules and created such chaos that Mayor Eduardo Paes asked residents to stay home.
Thousands of people in the Baixada Fluminense, a string of working-class suburbs that extends inland from central Rio, sought emergency shelter because of flooded homes.
In some of the neighborhoods, residents protested what they considered a slow response by authorities. Along at least one major highway, looters ransacked trucks and other vehicles that were stranded by the water.
To help ensure order, President Dilma Rousseff agreed to send federal security personnel as backups for state police. In a statement, Rio’s state government said the governor had also asked the federal government to help provide mattresses, potable water and emergency food supplies.
