Olympic village in Rio has clogged toilets, deemed ‘uninhabitable’

With the official start of the 2016 Summer Olympics less than two weeks away, the city of Rio de Janeiro should probably be ready to host by now. But is it? Let’s just say if the Games started today, the athletes would have nowhere to live.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Olympic Committee confirmed on Sunday night that the athlete’s village in Rio has been deemed “uninhabitable” for the time being due to a series of major issues. Some of the dorms are apparently both unfinished and unsafe.

“Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean,” AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller said. “In operations areas water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring.”

Chiller said the AOC has been working to get its section of the village up to standards, but a test run over the weekend went terribly wrong.

“We decided to do a ‘stress test’ where taps and toilets were simultaneously turned on in apartments on several floors to see if the system could cope once the athletes are in-house,” she explained. “The system failed. Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was ‘shorting’ in the electrical wiring.”

Unfortunately, clogged toilets isn’t even the worst of what has gone on in Rio in the weeks leading up to the Olympics. Let’s not forget what was found near the volleyball courts last month. Officials need to work very quickly to address the problems.

H/T The Big Lead