In Brazil, Rio experienced up to 62.3 degrees Celsius, a new record

“Avoid prolonged exposure to the sun. Hydrate yourself! », alerted Rio’s municipal alert system on record since such measures began in 2014.

The western region of Rio is made up of poor, inland and underserved areas, home to more than 40% of the city’s population of over six million inhabitants.

With a maximum actual temperature of 42 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the temperature experienced was also the highest in the residential area of ​​the Botanical Garden in the south of Rio, which is privileged with its numerous plants and where the temperature experienced increased to 57.7 °. C Sunday.

“We are trying to go to a more open place with the sea, to protect ourselves, but we have to do something,” Rio resident Raquel Correa, 49, told AFP in Central Park. “I am very afraid that it will get worse, because the population is increasing a lot and the deforestation is very significant due to the increase in the number of housing units,” she added.

Symbolic of Rio, the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana were packed with people on Sunday. Many people have also found refuge in Tijuca Park, a real green lung of the city.

In Sao Paulo, South America’s largest city, with double Rio’s population, more than 12 million, Saturday was the hottest day of the year with the mercury at 34.7° vs. had increased to This is the highest March temperature since Brazil’s National Meteorological Institute (INMET) began measuring in 1943.

And now the flood

In the south of Brazil, by contrast, it is rain that threatens. Heavy rain is expected to continue this week, authorities have warned.

“The week will be at a high risk of heavy rains and storms in south-central Brazil,” weather information agency Metsul warned on Sunday. “The most concerning system is a very strong cold front that will bring torrential rain and possible thunderstorms,” ​​she added. Some areas of Rio Grande do Sul state are recording “abnormally high” rainfall amounts. In Uruguay, the state’s worst-hit city, images were broadcast of flooded streets and half of buses submerged in water.

According to Metsul, up to 500 millimeters of water could fall, while in February Rio Grande do Sul state was suffocating from the heat caused by Argentina’s “extreme heat dome”.

Experts attribute these extreme events and meteorological instability to climate change and the El Nino phenomenon that affects the southern cone of Latin America, causing wildfires in Chile in mid-summer.