Urban Brazil: Visions, Afflictions, and Governance Lessons By Iva ...

I thought by the time I had finished my meal that it would be over, but I had no such luck. I could not walk around in this weather so I went down the street and tried to hail a cab to return home. Every cab driver whom I asked responded that it would not be possible to take me to my neighborhood because the roads were flooded. I was not alone. There were several people at the same corner trying to return home by taxi. Finally, I was able to convince a taxi driver to take me to my apartment by offering him 100 pesos—almost triple the normal rate to my home. Believe me, this was a very uncomfortable ride as I did not know exactly if we could make it there. Fortunately, my particular area was not flooded and I was able to get home safely.

I was fortunate because the next day in the news, there were reports of drownings, stranded cars, and flooded neighborhoods. New plans were proposed to have better drainage and citizen representatives-advocates urged the municipal government to do something. The annual flooding in June (the time when I taught) was not new but had been agravated by unrestricted urbanization, which created more impervious surfaces and eliminated the sparse vegetation that would normally have decreased the runoff. The municipal governments also were unable to prevent homes to be constructed in flood plains, so there was either houses lost or people drowned when these flash floods occurred. This is just one example of the problems that urban residents in Latin America experience, but demonstrates the lack of planning and inadequate municipal management that is found in other Latin American cities.