Lightning Damages Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil

The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro has sustained a broken finger from lightning that struck it, informed world agencies Saturday.

A heavy electric rainstorm raged over the major Brazilian city on Thursday, causing power cuts for many households.

The world famous Jesus statue, rising over a 700 m hill above Rio was damaged by another storm last December, when another finger was torn off.

The damage comes only a few years after a £1.46 million restoration of the statue in 2010, where badly eroded parts of the statue’s face and hands were repaired. Luckily, however, the archdiocese of Rio has maintained a stock of the original stone used to create the statue in 1931 with which they repair the figure.

The statue has been exposed to increased lightning activity in recent years, with many blaming the increasing urbanisation of the city, which creates and island of heat and increased pollution which can contribute to the risk of such strikes.

Agencies/Canadajournal