A powerful storm hit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the morning of February 15, 2018 with a month’s worth of rain in just one hour. The storm flooded homes and roads, downed trees and caused substantial structural damage. At least 4 people were killed and 30 injured. A record 123.2 mm (4.85 inches) of rain fell in just 60 minutes, breaking the previous one-hour precipitation record of 116 mm (4.56 inches) measured in 2000.
This is more rain in one hour than the city would usually receive during the entire month of rain (105.3 mm / 4.14 inches). “We were expecting heavy rain, but we had a historic rain,” the government of Rio de Janeiro said. “The last historic record happened 17 years ago, in Campo Grande, with 116 mm of rain in one hour. This year, in Barra da Tijuca, we had more than 123 mm.” Heavy rain flooded roads and homes and caused rivers to overflow while strong winds and gusts to 92.6 km/h (57.5 mph) downed trees. READ MORE
