Thais Leitão and Paulo Virgilio   Reporters Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro – For most people in Brazil, Easter is Holy Week, at least a four-day holiday (Thursday to Sunday), with almost everything closed on Good Friday, but mostly open Easter Sunday.

And for many, Easter Sunday is time to drive back home and get ready to go back to work Monday. That was not so easy.

Rio and most of southern Brazil had a rainy weekend, all weekend. The weather bureau described it as simply "unfavorable." Civil Defense authorities put the city of Rio de Janeiro on alert yesterday afternoon as a cold front moved in bringing heavy rainfall and the danger of flooding and landslides.

The main highways into and out of Rio were described as slow yesterday afternoon and evening. The Via Dutra, connecting the city to São Paulo, was being repaired between kilometers 175 and 188, which slowed the heavy traffic down even more. As for the Rio – Niteroi bridge, connecting the city to popular areas in the mountains or to beaches, it was estimated that traffic would be very intense, with some 80,000 cars crossing the bridge on Easter Sunday.

At the end of Sunday afternoon, traffic was backed up between 15 to 30 kilometers on many highways but Rio airports were operating normally.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Motoristas enfrentam longos engarrafamentos no retorno do feriado no Rio

Link - Cariocas enfrentam congestionamento no retorno do feriado

Link - Movimento de retorno ao Rio é cada vez mais intenso