The Paraná River's biggest floods at the border: where 2026 stands against 1983, 1992 and 2014

The October 2026 flood took the Paraná River to 116.13 m above sea level at the Friendship Bridge station on the afternoon of 12 October, according to Itaipu. It is the biggest rise Guia 3 has measured, but the border's history holds much bigger floods.

Itaipu's ranking

In 2014 Itaipu said the 124.98 m mark was surpassed only by the 1983 and 1992 floods, the largest the Paraná has had locally. The exact level of those two floods is not in the public records we checked; Itaipu only states they were above the 2014 mark. Today's river sits almost 9 meters below 2014.

What each level means

Itaipu's levels at the Friendship Bridge come with reference bands:

• 108 m: first flooding of the lowest homes. An ABRH study puts the start of neighborhood flooding at 109 m.
• 114 m: the Porto Meira sand port, in Foz.
• 117.8 m: the first buildings of the Cataratas Iate Clube.
• 119 m: homes in Porto Meira start to be hit.
• 129 m: severe flooding band.

In 2026 the river passed 114 m, and as of the afternoon of 12 October Itaipu did not forecast 119 m.

1983, the flood Foz "had never seen"

In June 1983, the newspaper Nosso Tempo reported that a sawmill near the Friendship Bridge was fully submerged, the Iate Clube flooded and homes in the Monsenhor Guilherme, Marinha and Boicy communities were swept away, according to H2FOZ.

Why the Paraná rises so much here

The Paraná at the border depends on two rivers. Itaipu controls what it releases, but not the Iguazú, which joins the Paraná by the Three Frontiers Landmark. When the Iguazú floods, it backs up the Paraná, raising the level more than 20 km upstream. That happened in 2014 and again now: the Iguazú set the record of our series at the Falls on 12 October.

The 2026 toll so far

• Foz do Iguaçu: 9 people homeless and 16 displaced, according to civil defense (12 Oct), with up to 170 mm of rain in under 24 hours.
• Ciudad del Este: 185 families out of their homes in San Rafael and San Agustín, according to the city.
• Our gauge on the Paraná read 23.90 m at 6 am on 13 October, the highest in our series: Paraná River keeps rising.

Emergency numbers: 199 (civil defense, Brazil), 911 (Paraguay and Argentina).

Sources: Itaipu Binacional (2014 bulletin and 12 Oct 2026 update, via Coluna do Meio), the ABRH study on the Iguaçu-Paraná confluence, H2FOZ, Foz do Iguaçu civil defense (via O Presente) and ANA data.