From the New York Times:<\/p>\n
How bad is it?<\/p>\n
The storm that swept through Rio de Janeiro this week left a wreck in its wake: A landslide swallowed homes, floodwaters rose up in hospitals and power lines collapsed as streets turned into roaring rivers.<\/em><\/p>\n Then came the alligators \u2014 or, more precisely, their South American cousins, the caimans.<\/em><\/p>\n The storm knocked down the walls of a caiman farm in a neighborhood, or favela, that is controlled, like others in Rio de Janeiro, by a heavily armed criminal paramilitary group. This made the local authorities reluctant to enter \u2014 and left the creatures, which can grow to be 11 feet long, to swim through the flooded streets, terrifying residents.<\/em><\/p>\n The caiman farm stood in the Favela do Rola, in western Rio de Janeiro, one of several sections of the city to be flooded this week. It was unclear how many caimans were bred there, but photographs<\/a> and videos<\/a> of the creatures coursing through the floodwaters were shared by several people on social media.<\/em><\/p>\n Wanna see a caiman? Click on the video link. Don’t wanna think about caimans? Stop reading this.<\/p>\n I’m wondering why anyone would want a caiman farm. What do they do with caimans? Caimen?<\/p>\n I’m stopping now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the New York Times: ‘Complete Chaos’ in Rio as Flooding Sets Alligators Free How bad is it? The storm that swept through Rio de Janeiro this week left a wreck in its wake: A landslide swallowed homes, floodwaters rose … Continue reading