Heavy rains have paralysed much of Rio de Janeiro, which is scrambling to improve infrastructure to prepare to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
More rain fell on Tuesday and into Wednesday 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 the city's mayor, Eduardo Paes, asked residents to stay home.
No deaths have been reported, but by early on Wednesday afternoon emergency personnel were tending to isolated injuries and evaluating the extent of the damage.
Though December is part of the annual rainy season, the intensity of the rains underscored longstanding concerns about flooding in a coastal city where slipshod development and poor public oversight in past decades have led to an urban sprawl across a floodplain between nearby mountains and the sea.