A rash of exploding manholes in Rio de Janeiro

At about 2:00 am Wednesday (July 20), a manhole in the center of Rio, on the corner of Avenida Rio Branco and Rua Mayrink Veiga, began spewing smoke and flames. According to the Fire Department, there was a short circuit in the underground cables. The manhole did not explode. The manhole cover did not fly into the air. No one was hurt in the incident.

There have been at least 14 “manhole incidents” in Rio this month. A couple of them have exploded sending manhole covers soaring, injuring people; some have been severely burned.

A street vendor who works near the Avenida Rio Branco manhole, Lourival Rufino, said he was scared. “It is now pretty common. Those things explode and people get hurt. I have to work. I can’t get hurt,” he told Agência Brasil. A taxi driver who parks near the manhole said he thought urgent action was called for. “It is just not possible to let this be (“acabe em pizza”). Its like we’re walking around in a minefield in Rio. Nobody knows where the next problem will be. The people responsible for this must be punished,” he declared.

It has been announced that City Hall (“prefeitura do Rio”) and the local Council of Architects and Engineers (“Crea”) will sign an emergency contract with a specialized firm to study the problem which is said to consist of monitoring some 500 manholes and 50 subterranean transformer chambers.

Meanwhile, Rio electricity distributors, Rioluz and Light, along with the gas company (“CEG”), say they have technicians examining all underground networks.