Floods in deserts

At the start of Flood: Nature and Culture (Reaktion Books), I wrote about how floods could happen almost anywhere – even in deserts, and included the picture above to prove it. It was taken in a desert in Arizona.

The latest proof has come in one of the driest places in the world, the Atacama Desert in Chile (a fascinating place to visit). Last week, torrential rains brought flash floods there that left two people dead and 24 missing. One was said to have been killed in a mudslide and the other electrocuted.

As the river Copiapo burst its banks, the government declared a state of emergency. 38,000 have been without electricity, nearly 50,000 without drinking water, and the government has been rescuing people by helicopter because roads have been blocked.

For the story of another deadly desert flood, in Antelope Canyon, Arizona, see my blog of 6 October 2012.

Picture by Anne Clements.  http://www.anneclements.com/

Floods in deserts

That’s me in the Lower Antelope Canyon near Page in the deserts of Arizona, USA,  which I visited last month.  It’s place of bizarre, fascinating rock formations, but also a reminder that disastrous floods can strike almost anywhere, even in deserts.

On August 12, 1997, 11 tourists, including 7 from France, were walking through the long narrow, ‘slot’ canyon.   There had been little rain close to the site, but a thunderstorm had dumped a lot of water into the canyon basin seven miles upstream.

By the time it swept into the slot canyon, this flash flood was swelled by logs and stones.    The tourists’  guide managed to wedge himself behind an outcrop, and for a time he held on to two of his party, but eventually the careering waters dragged them from his grasp.

Then he too was swept downstream.   He was found alive on a ledge – the only survivor.   Two of the victims’ bodies have never been found.     You can find more detail here - http://climb-utah.com/Powell/flash_antelope.htm

Picture by Anne Clements http://www.anneclements.com/

Floods - now it's Russia's turn

Bangladesh, India - now it is Russia’s turn to be hit by deadly floods caused by torrential rain.    At least 170 people have been killed in the Krasnodar region, way down in the country’s deep south.

11 inches of rain fell in just one night, bringing the worst flash floods in living memory, and forcing many people to shelter on roofs or in trees, as more than 5,000 homes were flooded.

Most of the deaths happened in and around the town of Krymsk, but deaths were also reported from the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik and the port town of Novorossiysk.   Local people complained that they were given little or no warning.

Activists have blamed the ferocity of the flood on the opening of sluice gates at the local reservoir, though the authorities have denied this.    Now President Putin has ordered an inquiry into the causes of the disaster.