Amazing Earth: When rainfall turns the driest desert into a flood zone in Atacama Desert!

GMA Network

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.

Transcript

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.

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