Rihanna three hours late for school visit

Rihanna left school children in Chicago, Illinois waiting for more than three hours on Friday (22Mar13) after she was caught up in heavy traffic on her way to the facility.

The singer took a break from her North American tour to visit students at Barrington High School in Chicago and thank them for raising $40,000 for the town of Joplin, Missouri, which was flattened by a tornado in May, 2012.

However, Rihanna was severely delayed on her way to the school when her car got caught in traffic chaos, and she spent an hour and a half sitting in a jam, while students waited for her arrival.

The Umbrella hitmaker posted a picture of the heavy traffic on her Twitter.com page with the caption, "This Chicago traffic is not working."

Local official Jeff Arnett reveals they nearly cancelled the event when Rihanna failed to turn up: "After she was 90 minutes late then two hours behind schedule, there was a time we wondered if the event would actually happen. But because her staff members were also waiting with us, we felt she was ultimately going to get there."

She eventually made it to the school more than three hours late, but continued with the special visit as planned, speaking to the pupils, posing for pictures and giving away tour tickets as part of a raffle.

Rihanna later praised the students' charity work in a post on Twitter, writing, "Barrington High School facts ! They raised 40 thousand dollars for Joplin Missouri after the tragic tornado hit Missouri in May last year... BHS thank you man!!! You guys rule!!! I love this school!!!"