Amazing Earth: When rainfall turns the driest desert into a flood zone in Atacama Desert!
Aired (September 27, 2024): Nature's tragedy comes in mysterious ways; hear about this shocking turn of events in the Atacama Desert, known as the driest place on Earth, that faced 12 hours of intense rainfall and severe flooding.
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00:00In places where the drought is long,
00:02it is not expected to rain.
00:05But as the saying goes,
00:06be careful what you wish for.
00:08In Chile,
00:09the long-awaited end of the drought
00:12is returning to the bank.
00:13Here is the amazing story number two.
00:15Drowning in the River of Whites.
00:19The Atacama Desert in northern Chile,
00:21the driest place on earth.
00:24Several weather stations here
00:25are not affected by the rain.
00:28The town of Copiapo is located
00:30around a river that is several years old.
00:34In 2015, the Chilean drought hit.
00:37It became a wildfire in the southeast.
00:40But everyone was surprised
00:42when suddenly the rain poured.
00:44There was no warning,
00:44no warning at all.
00:46But there was no forewarning
00:50to prevent the event that was coming.
00:53Jonathan Fortes is a resident of Copiapo.
00:57He plans to capture the rain
00:59that the residents here are waiting for.
01:03The first rain that fell was heavy.
01:06In fact, it is not customary for it to rain in this area.
01:09So people went out to the streets
01:12to enjoy the rain a little.
01:14The rain poured for 12 hours.
01:17But due to the hard soil,
01:19the water did not drain.
01:22In Elqui, the mudflow was caught on camera.
01:25Wow!
01:27The former dry river
01:29is now full of mudflow.
01:32Many places in 40,000 square miles of desert
01:35experienced the same flood.
01:38Some towns like Copiapo
01:41were flooded because the mudflow was not directed to them.
01:44The dry riverbed is not recognizable anymore.
01:49The residents are used to the look of the river.
01:53Others are very scared.
01:55For 8 years, there was no water flowing in the river.
01:58And now, it suddenly floods.
02:00The water level continues to rise.
02:04What's worse is that the river is not directed to the city.
02:07The residents can't believe what's happening.
02:12It was early in the morning when the water level started to rise.
02:15It didn't take long for it to flood.
02:18The flood came.
02:20Entire populations didn't even have time
02:22to leave their homes.
02:24The 12-hour flood in the driest place on earth
02:27was a huge blunder.
02:30Imagine, the rain that fell here
02:33in one day is equivalent to 7 years.
02:36The scattered land became thick mud.
02:40The river channels didn't know about this.
02:43Barangay after barangay were destroyed.
02:46Cars and houses were swept away.
02:49Entire towns were swept away by the flood.
02:54The bridges and rails of the train were destroyed.
02:57The town of Copiapo was isolated.
03:00In other parts of the world,
03:02the flood is just mild.
03:03In Chile, the flood is severe.
03:06The next day, the flood subsided.
03:08Jonathan went around the poor barangay
03:11near the riverbank.
03:13There are still communities that are submerged in the flood.
03:16There are also black ponds that were flooded
03:18so the land was scattered.
03:23There are six families here.
03:25They came together after the flood.
03:39They sent Jonathan to their house.
03:41He has just been able to see
03:43a house like that in Copiapo.
03:45Houses like this
03:47are next to the ball.
03:49Residents come back here
03:51to bring their belongings.
04:03In the house of a resident,
04:05almost nothing is left to save.
04:07Even the children's belongings are gone.
04:09They can no longer live
04:11in abandoned houses.
04:13More than 28,000 houses
04:15were destroyed
04:17while 126 people died.
04:21This is the story of a house like that in Copiapo.