Performers from a samba school perform Sunday during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro. The all-night celebration is part of the five-day Carnival.

RIO DE JANEIRO — The show went on Sunday at the world’s most-celebrated Carnival parades, despite a tropical deluge that soaked thousands of feather-clad dancers, wildly costumed musicians and masses of spectators at Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome.

The skies opened up about an hour ahead of the start of the all-night-long extravaganza, drenching revelers, flooding streets near the Sambadrome and even the walkways within Rio’s Mecca of Carnaval.

Tennis star Rafael Nadal, in town for the Rio Open tournament, participated in the opening parade of the night, covered by a plastic rain slicker. Mobbed by the press, the Spanish athlete only stayed around 20 minutes, trying out fancy footwork meant to resemble samba and posing for selfies along with former Brazilian French Open winner Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten.

This year’s five-day-long Carnival celebrations also include some 450 alcohol-soaked street parties. Sunday’s rains in Rio were widely welcomed Brazil copes with the worst drought in 80 years in the southeast, which includes Rio.