World Cup city floods

At least 25 homes are reported to have been destroyed in landslides in the World Cup host city of Natal following heavy rain.

The intensity of the rain could be witnessed during the Group A match between Mexico and Cameroon. Torrential rain began shortly before kick-off and continued throughout the game. Fortunately the pitch played surprisingly well.

Residents in the Mae Luiza neighbourhood were not so lucky. In addition to the destroyed houses, 50 to 60 families were forced to evacuate their homes and have temporarily been given shelter in schools and churches.

“In this area there was a landslide. The drainage system broke which caused everything to collapse in this area. The Civil Defense and the Red Cross worked together to isolate the area and we evacuated all the people to shelters or to their relatives’ homes,” said Civil Defense Assistant Gilberto Carlos Gomez Da Silva.

A state of emergency was declared by the city’s major, although this was later lifted.

The last three days have seen around 280mm of rainfall which is what could be expected in a typical month in this city which lies on the Atlantic Ocean.

Natal is host to four matches during the tournament including Monday evening’s match between Ghana and the US.