On Monday morning, 22 June 2020, approximately 100 millimetres per square metre of rain fell in Santa Cruz de la Sierra within a few hours. The following video shows just how dramatic the situation was in some places.
The city has a drainage system which has been further expanded in recent years and reinforced with additional channels. These channels, which are normally small streams of water as seen in the picture, fill up very quickly when it rains.
Consequently, during heavy rainfall, the water often backs up and the streets become flooded
When it rains as heavily as it did this Monday, the water doesn’t just stay on the road; it spills over the pavements and floods properties and houses.
This happened in several places in Santa Cruz, and the mission grounds were not spared either. Here, the water was so high that the entire courtyard was flooded, and there was several centimetres of water in the rooms as well.
Once the water had drained away, a few puddles remained, but there was still a great deal of tidying up to be done.
Report by Klaus Klaassen, photos by Troy Thiessen and Hermann Friesent
