An observation regarding standing water at Congonhas.
The rain began on Sunday 15th and only let up this afternoon, the 18th. Prior to that, and throughout most of the time the main runway at CGH was being resurfaced, there was a long dry spell, no rain other than the very occasional drizzle. The runway was reopened around the end of June or a fortnight ago and this was the first real rainfall the new surface had seen. Presumably also the first opportunity to measure standing water.
On any new flat surface of that area, there are going to be places where the runoff is slower than others, and which the people who go out and measure depth will need a few heavy rainfalls to learn about and pay special attention to. Apparently, standing water was being measured regularly during this last rainy spell; I just wonder how thoroughly a team can actually take measurements between takoffs and landings at a very busy airport, and whether there might not have been deeper patches in spots they hadn't had time to check.
Added to which, the gunk of rubber accumulating for a few weeks on new, dry concrete and then loosened up by rain. According to the media there were numerous reports by crews to the tower at CGH that the surface was especially slippery. Rippa might be able to corroborate this or say the reports were nothing out of the normal griping.
As background, I live and work 2.8 miles southwest of CGH, at the top of a building from which I can see the runway and which gets pretty much the same weather. The roof leaks in heavy rain and the small pool does when over a certain level so I keep a very close eye on rainfall. Between Sunday and today there’s been about 60mm but I can’t recall any time during the three days of rain when the terrace was really splashy drenched. Granted, it’s drained but there’s hardly any slope. So I wonder how thorough that measuring really is and whether there are places it puddles but that haven’t yet been identified.