Since we were going to be in South America for the World Cup I wanted to show my family the super amazing Iguassu Falls. Turns out it was an interesting time to go-they had so much rain I saw one headline call it A Deluge of Biblical Proportions.
So much water was going over the falls that you couldn't even SEE the falls. They haven't seen this much rain since the 80's and they had to close the trails for the first 2 days we were there. The bridges out to the Devil's Throat were actually destroyed and you won't be able to get out there until at least 2015!
Here is a comparison from our last trip. This is a trail that ends very close to a waterfall and you can see it from above.
an overhead close up from September 2012
In June 2014 the trail was closed, you can see why, the end of the trail is barely visible in the center of the picture and is completely covered by the rushing water.
The next day they let you to near the end of the trail, though still not all the way out, which is still under water!
Hey look, I took almost the exact same photo
Sept 2012
June 2014 You can see all the extra water and how the color is so different from all the mud.
Sept 2012 I originally took this for the rainbow, but you can see the island in the back and the boat that takes folks to the island beach. Also note the color of the river water.
June 2014, this is the island-the water completely covers the beach and flows over areas of the island that had been completely dry.
The river below the falls was not something I even bothered to photograph but now you can see that the river has covered tree trunks and the rain has made the cliffs slide.
In fact the viewing platform on the Brazilian side collapsed!
yikes!
Even the news people were out-the guy on the right was interviewing people when they reopened the trails.
Trail closed
The water levels dropped very quickly once it stopped raining. When they let us back on the trails you can see why the water is all muddy.
The flattened grass survived being underwater but hasn't popped back yet.
Here the river hasn't completely dropped down.
What it looks like over the edge of the bridge
Sept 2012
June 2014
I wonder what it will be next time I go!
Amazing! But were we really there in 2012? Maybe more like 2002? Or 2005?
ReplyDeleteAh-2012 was just me and E- If I am very clever I will go back to our trip and pull those photos for comparison.
ReplyDelete