Iguazu Falls running 3.5 times above average flow on Tuesday

The Iguaçu river is still above average, but well below this flood's peak. At the National Water Agency (ANA) gauge next to Hotel Cataratas, inside the park, the reading on 22 September at 20:00 was 5,130 m³/s, about 5.1 million litres per second. The river's historical average here is around 1.5 million litres per second, the yardstick used for this comparison.

The peak came earlier: on 11 September the volume passed 8 million litres per second, the threshold at which the concessionaire considers closing the walkway, and between the small hours and the morning of 12 September it reached 10.1 million litres per second, the highest reading in the series Guia 3 has tracked since June 2026. The river's record, however, is far higher: 46,300 m³/s in June 2014.

As the water eased, on 14 September the flow was 6.7 million litres per second and a technical inspection found the structure safe. On 15 September the walkway on the Brazilian side, which leads to the Devil's Throat viewpoint, reopened. The park itself never closed: in a flood what closes is a section, not the park.

Don't mix up the two sides: the reopened walkway is the Brazilian one. On the Argentine side, the Devil's Throat walkway has been closed since 3 August 2026, when it was dismantled as a precaution against the flood. The rest of the Argentine park is operating.

What it means if you go now: more water means more spray and wet walkways, and a rain jacket works better than an umbrella. The brown water is sediment washed in by rain across the basin, not dirt. Iguaçu National Park opens every day, with ticket sales from 9:00 to 16:00 and visitors allowed to stay until 17:30.

The day's measurement is at how the Falls are today.