Thursday, February 9, 2023 | 11:15 a.m.
The floods caused by the heavy rains that hit Rio de Janeiro this week have brought alligators to some streets of the Brazilian city, which have surprised residents who are not used to running into this type of reptile during their daily journeys.
In the last 24 hours, heavy downpours have caused the death of at least two people in the city, including a minor, and chaos in the streets due to flooding.
On Tuesday, in just four hours, Rio recorded 70% of the expected rainfall for the entire month of February, according to data from the Mayor’s system that measures the volume of rainfall in the city.
The floods have caused alligators to appear in neighborhoods in the western and northern areas of Rio near areas with lagoons and mangroves, where this type of reptile lives.
The surprise of the visiting individuals was known through social networks, in which photos and videos of the reptiles walking freely through the streets or swimming among the deposited waters were published.
In one of the videos, residents watch from the top of their houses an adult alligator swimming in the middle of the flooded street.
In the Curicica neighborhood, in the western zone, the firefighters took more than an hour to catch one of these animals.
In these regions of the city it is normal for reptiles to surprise the neighbors when there are torrential downpours like the one on Tuesday.
The urban expansion registered in Rio, especially in the western zone, where countless condominiums have been built in the vicinity of wetlands and mangroves, has limited the habitat of these reptiles and other animals, according to experts.
