SAO PAULO - A HEAVY storm that lashed Brazil's biggest city of Sao Paulo on Monday forced authorities to issue a flood alert and briefly close a busy airport.
Television showed images of cars washed to the sides of roads entirely under water. People were seen taking refuge on the roof of a bus, or wading waist-high past inundated shops and homes.
Brazil's Center of Emergency Management (CGE) said several areas in the south of the metropolis - population 18 million - were flooded and power was cut.
The city's main domestic airport of Congonhas suspended operations for more than an hour because of the downpour.
Sao Paulo often gets thundery summer storms, but the intensity of Monday's one-and-a-half-hour tempest proved too much for the city's drainage systems.
'The volume of the rain also has the potential of making small rivers and creeks break their banks,' the CGE said in a statement.
The precipitation also worsened Sao Paulo's infernal traffic, causing bottlenecks on several major roads. -- AFP
