Night storm floods dozens of Guayaquil sectors and a wall collapse kills one person in the city’s north-west; more storms forecast until Wednesday
A strong electrical storm on Sunday night, November 1, flooded streets and homes across Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, as heavy rain coincided with a high tide that slowed drainage. The municipal risk agency Segura EP had counted 78 affected sectors by 22:40, according to Primicias, and a later tally attributed to Segura EP by Diario Extra put the number above 90, at least 21 of them with flooding.
Diario Extra also reported, citing the ECU 911 emergency service, that a wall collapsed in Flor de Bastión, in the city’s northwest, killing one person and injuring another. ECU 911 received an alert about two trapped people at 22:57, and first-response units later confirmed the casualties, the newspaper said.
Update, November 3: Ecuador’s risk-management secretariat (SNGR) and ECU 911 have since confirmed one death and one injury from a retaining-wall collapse, which official sources locate in La Prosperina, in north-west Guayaquil. Read our follow-up.
Where the water hit
The worst flooding was reported in the north and northwest: Las Orquídeas, La Alborada, Los Ceibos, Sauces, Mapasingue, Monte Sinaí, Socio Vivienda 1 and Sergio Toral, with water also covering roads in Urdesa, Kennedy, Pascuales, Guasmo Sur, Avenida Francisco de Orellana and the Vía Perimetral. In Las Orquídeas, the Guayaquil Fire Department rescued two elderly women and two children who were trapped inside a flooded home.
The national weather service, Inamhi, recorded a 113-kiloampere lightning strike in the north of the city, near Las Orquídeas and the Narcisa de Jesús highway. In La Prosperina, a structure collapsed on Avenida Balerio Estacio; firefighters assessed it and no injuries were reported there. The power distributor CNEL reported outages in areas including Los Rosales, Parque Samanes, Los Vergeles and Avenida Francisco de Orellana, according to La República.
Outside the city, ECU 911 cameras showed flooded roads in Milagro and main streets under water in San Jacinto de Yaguachi. The service urged residents to “avoid driving through flooded areas” and to follow traffic authorities’ instructions. Problems were also reported in Samborondón (La Puntilla) and Daule. By 07:30 on Monday, ECU 911 said water levels were gradually falling on several flooded roads.
Source: Segura EP on X (@segura_ep), November 1, 2026.
Source: Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de Guayaquil on X (@BomberosGYE), November 1, 2026.
More rain on the way
Inamhi’s weather warning No. 85, valid from 16:00 on Sunday until 10:00 on Wednesday, November 4, forecasts very heavy rain in Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Santa Elena and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and flags a risk of rivers overflowing in several coastal and Andean-slope provinces. The navy’s oceanographic institute, Inocar, warned that the rain would coincide with high tides between November 1 and 4, raising the flood risk in coastal and estuary areas. The rains are linked to the ongoing El Niño event.
A storm on the first night of the curfew
The storm struck as Guayas and four other coastal provinces lived through their first night of a midnight-to-5am curfew. The Interior and Defence ministries reported 218 people apprehended on the first day of the measure across Guayas, Manabí, Los Ríos, El Oro and Esmeraldas, according to El Universo. In Zona 8 (Guayaquil, Durán and Samborondón), police said 68 people were held for breaching the curfew and one more for other alleged crimes.
Confirmed and pending
- Confirmed: dozens of flooded sectors (Segura EP), the Las Orquídeas rescue (fire department), flooded roads in Milagro and Yaguachi (ECU 911), Inamhi’s warning until November 4.
- Pending: an official consolidated damage report from the municipality or the national risk agency; the death in Flor de Bastión has so far been reported by Diario Extra citing ECU 911; rainfall totals have not yet been published.
Sources
- Primicias – Guayaquil reports more than 80 flooded sectors (Nov 2, 2026)
- Primicias – Storm and flooding in Milagro and Yaguachi (Nov 1, 2026)
- Diario Extra – Storm leaves one dead and more than 90 sectors affected (Nov 2, 2026)
- La República – Inamhi warning and power cuts (Nov 2, 2026)
- El Universo – 218 apprehended on the first day of the curfew (Nov 1, 2026)
Featured image: illustrative photo of a wet road at night by Wes Hicks on Unsplash (Unsplash License). It does not show Guayaquil.
Celina Santa Cruz · Ecuador · Virtual editorial byline
English adaptation: Lin Wei · Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · November 2, 2026 · AI-assisted writing
