Cuenca faces mounting flood risks as climate change and urban expansion overwhelm outdated drainage systems and reshape local weather patterns.
After enduring a parched 2024, Cuenca has been pummeled by heavy rains in the opening months of 2025, triggering flash floods, overwhelmed drainage systems, and a growing sense of unease among residents. Experts warn that the sudden shift from drought to deluge is not a fluke—it’s part of a deepening climate crisis that’s reshaping local weather patterns.
In just the first few days of April, the city faced two torrential downpours, the second of which dumped 40 millimeters of rain in barely an hour. That’s double the normal rainfall for an entire April day in Cuenca. Streets flooded, trees snapped under strong winds, and streams overflowed. The city’s infrastructure, not built for such extremes, struggled to keep up.
According to municipal data, Cuenca has already recorded its wettest first quarter of the decade. February alone brought 150 millimeters of rain—well above the historical average of 80 to 90 millimeters for the month. At the start of the year, forecasters had predicted a relatively mild rainy season. That projection has been washed away.
A City Under Pressure
On April 1st, major avenues were briefly transformed into rivers. Though the water wasn’t waist-deep like coastal flooding, the speed and intensity of the storm overwhelmed the city’s drainage system. Poles and trees were knocked down, and emergency crews scrambled to respond.
Forty millimeters of rain may not seem like much when compared to disasters in other parts of the country, but in Cuenca’s context—where soil conditions, urban expansion, and outdated infrastructure converge—it was more than enough to wreak havoc.
“Water no longer infiltrates the ground the way it used to—it just floods,” said Rigoberto Guerrero, deputy manager of Environmental Management at ETAPA, the city’s public utility and water management company.
Paving Over the Problem
The problem is twofold. On one hand, climate change is delivering heavier, more unpredictable rainfall. On the other, Cuenca’s rapid urban development is leaving less space for water to be absorbed into the ground.
Hillsides once covered in grass and native vegetation have been replaced by concrete and asphalt. Former ravines—natural drainage routes—have been filled in for roads and housing developments. One example is the Cuenca-Azogues highway corridor, where runoff now flows directly onto the road instead of being absorbed by the terrain.
Guerrero noted that this urban growth is not just a planning issue—it’s a flooding risk. “The water that once followed natural channels now races across paved surfaces. Areas like the IESS roundabout and the Hospital del Río are seeing more frequent flooding because those paths have been redirected.”
An Overwhelmed System
Cuenca’s drainage infrastructure wasn’t designed to handle this volume of water. Built decades ago based on historical weather data, the systems are being pushed beyond their limits.
“The amount of rain we’re receiving today wasn’t considered when those systems were put in place,” Guerrero said. “This is no longer an isolated phenomenon. These events are happening several times a year now—sometimes even multiple times a month.”
Climate models show that these sudden downpours are becoming the new norm, not the exception. And with April expected to bring even more rain, authorities are warning that what happened on the first of the month might not be the worst of it.
A Changing Landscape
Cuenca’s experience is part of a broader trend seen in highland cities around the world: dry seasons becoming longer and more intense, followed by shorter, more violent rainy periods. The shift not only stresses infrastructure—it reshapes the way communities must think about water management, land use, and emergency planning.
As Guerrero put it, “The climate crisis has changed the rules. And if we don’t adapt quickly, the consequences will keep getting worse.”
For now, Cuenca is bracing for the next storm. But the challenge runs deeper than weather—it’s about how the city grows, how it plans, and how it prepares for a future that no longer looks like the past.
Yet many say that climate change is faked, somehow. It is not “weather,” but it IS about longer changes in overall things like rainfall and temperature. The science is REAL and it is frightening as to the overall, global impacts of these events and the overall changes we are seeing.
Impacts on food production are significant.