Paraná river at 15.48 m, the highest level in our series

Guia 3 began measuring the Paraná river on 9 October 2026. Until now the newsroom tracked only the Iguaçu, the river of the Falls, and they are different rivers: the flood threatening the low part of Ciudad del Este is the Paraná.

What the gauge shows

The reading comes from station 64918000 (UHE Itaipu R-4) of Brazil's National Water Agency, in Foz do Iguaçu, 7.5 km upstream of the Friendship Bridge, updated hourly.

The river rose steadily from late September: it was at 11.47 m on the 29th and passed 15 m on 7 October.

One caveat on reading it: these metres are the station's local datum, not the same scale as Itaipu's bulletins, which cite a “108 m level” on a different reference. Both measure the same river and cannot be compared with each other.

What drives the river

The Paraná at Foz and Ciudad del Este is, above all, what Itaipu releases. The dam sits 14 km upstream of the Friendship Bridge. Per the series from Brazil's National Electric System Operator, in the most recent figure the plant turbined 11,826 m³/s and spilled 1,996 m³/s, returning roughly 13,800 m³/s to the river, with inflow to the reservoir still rising.

What it affects

Itaipu had already warned, in a bulletin reported in early October, of flooding risk in the low zone of Ciudad del Este, with the first effects in the San Rafael neighbourhood. The mechanism is familiar from earlier floods: with the Paraná high, the Acaraymí stream cannot drain, the water backs up and returns into the neighbourhood's streets.

For anyone crossing the border, this does not close the Friendship Bridge or the downtown shops, which sit on high ground. Anyone with a boat tour booked on the Paraná should confirm with the operator, since navigation feels it first.

The Falls are a different river

The Iguaçu, which forms the Falls, is at 5,710 m³/s, about 3.8 times the long-term average of 1,500 m³/s, and falling after a peak of 7,271 m³/s on 8 October. That means full falls with both parks open. The day's status is at are the Falls open today.

How to follow it

The live crossing is at bridge queue and the three-country forecast at border weather.

Source: Guia 3's own series built from ANA telemetry (station 64918000) and ONS open data.