Grande Rio loses a float

The Salgueiro float crunch that I saw last night, and the hurried haphazard way the float handlers were dealing with it, knocking down phone lines without even noticing, was a sign of worse to come. Early this morning Grande Rio's first float was being hurriedly rolled down a side street when the top of the float hit some power lines. Onlookers yelled to the float handlers to stop, but they just kept on pushing. The power lines sparked and the float caught fire. Firefighters didn't arrive and the float was completely destroyed. It was a serious scare for the residents of the nearby buildings. (Nobody was hurt but several people would have been if rescuers hadn't raced in to pull people out.) Residents complain that "the street isn't getting any bigger, but the floats are".

It was after the parade, so it won't affect Grande Rio's score.

One resident said "The Carnaval show is just for gringos, and it's the poor who suffer."

Pictures from O Dia: