The Iguazú Falls on the Brazil-Argentina border were partially closed to visitors on Wednesday due to excessive water levels. According to a spokesman for the national park, the falls carried almost ten times as much water as usual.
Instead of the usual 1.5 million liters of water per second, 14.5 million liters of water per second rushed downstream on Wednesday evening.
The large amount of water meant that the tourist jetty on the Brazilian side had to be closed. Thus, no visitors could get to the famous Devil’s Gorge, the main attraction of the place.
As the spokesman for the news agency AFP said, the unusually large amount of water was due to heavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. According to civil protection, 24 communities were affected by flooding. Almost 400 houses were damaged and more than 1,200 people were left homeless.
Visitor jetties on the Argentine side had to be closed on Tuesday due to the increased volume of water in the Iguazú River.