The "Paris 2024" Olympic Games face an imminent danger due to chaos caused by a storm and rain that has flooded the French city since the opening night last Friday. The "Daily Star" revealed that heavy rains that fell on the French capital over 48 hours, reaching up to 2 inches, have caused approximately 6 million rats (the size of cats) to emerge from their underground nests. Rats even attacked a "Daily Star" journalist while he was dining in the suburb of Percy.
The situation was not limited to just seeing them rushing through restaurants and bars, which horrified spectators who traveled from around the world to attend the sporting event. The health risks resulting from rat droppings have already impacted the events of the games. The newspaper indicated that bacteria found in rat urine could cause leptospirosis, leading to flu-like symptoms and damage to the liver and kidneys.
In this context, organizers canceled a scheduled training session for the triathlon (swimming, cycling, running) last Sunday due to unsafe pollution levels in the Seine River. The organizing committee stated that the increasing risk was a result of the rain that disrupted the opening ceremony on Friday and the tennis competitions on Saturday.
The organizing committee is trying to contain the crisis by conducting deep cleaning of the Olympic venues to remove food waste and garbage that attract insects, as well as cleaning sewer outlet points. The city's Deputy Mayor, Anne-Claire Boux, who is responsible for public health, stated that she does not want to eradicate the rats but only keep them underground, noting that they are "useful in maintaining the sewers."
It is worth noting that Paris has one of the largest rat populations in the world, exceeding the capital's population of 2.2 million by more than two to one.
