Copacabana’s New Year’s Draws Millions Under Rough-Sea Alert as Rescues Mount

Overview

• The Navy’s ressaca alert forecast waves up to 2.5 meters from midday Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday along the Rio coast, with advisories not to enter the water.
• Rio’s fire department reported 175 sea rescues in Copacabana by late afternoon and continued to search for a missing adolescent near Posto 2 using divers, drones, watercraft and an aircraft.
• Access to the shoreline was funneled through 16 checkpoints with metal detectors and facial-recognition cameras, supported by roughly 3,500 police and real-time monitoring by the city’s command center.
• Mobility plans closed Avenida Atlântica and, from 9 p.m., the entire neighborhood to traffic, required pre-purchased metro “passaportes” for timed boarding and shifted bus operations to a special terminal.
• The celebration kept its 12-minute fireworks show planned from 19 barges, as other coastal cities staged large, tightly managed events, including Santos’s anniversary-themed display and Fortaleza’s two-day lineup.