Seven years of rain fell in just 12 hours

[Ichingcarpenter]

Freak rainfall in Chile's Atacama, the driest desert on earth, triggers catastrophic mud slides


The early daylight hours of Wednesday, March 25th, 2015 will be never be forgotten by the inhabitants of the city of Copiapó, in northern Chile. On that morning, 20mm of rain fell in the middle of the desert... an event which triggered an avalanche of mud and water that tore down from the Andes mountains right into the capital of the country's Atacama Region.

For a few days before the disaster struck, the weather forecasts had been predicting rain but neither the authorities nor the people took them seriously. Why not? Because this was the Atacama, the driest desert in the world -- a place where it "almost" never rains.


Since March 25th, not just Copiapó, but also the nearby large mining settlement of Tierra Amarilla, the coastal town of Chañaral and many outlying villages of the region have all been covered in a layer of mud more than a metre thick.






Just three days before the disaster struck, there had been a local protest about a lack of water, on the bed of the same river (above), which had been dry for 20 years. "Ironic" would be an understatement.


https://www.the-newshub.com/general/freak-rainfall-in-chiles-atacama-the-driest-desert-on-earth-triggers-catastrophic-mud-slides

[libodem]

1. The Goddess

Must have thought it was a rain dance. Wow!

[Bigmack]

5. Uh....given the friends we have with the

big C, and the less than friendly weather events, old Mom Nature is known in our house as the Bitch Goddess! Yes, yes we've brought a lot of this s___ on ourselves, and there's no reason for the Grand Dame to be particularly forgiving, but still......

[Gman]

2. The moral of the story

Be careful what you ask for. You might get it.

[bloomington-lib]

3. Maybe this will happen next

[progree]

4. Wow, 20 mm (0.79") did all that?

[hatrack]

6. Oh yeah - Most of the Atacama is almost completely devoid of vegetation of any kind

Almost nothing to hold back runoff.