What is Drought?

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What is Drought?

Drought is a long period of dry weather when there is no rainfall at all for weeks, months or even years.  Rivers and streams stop flowing.  Water in pools, ponds, or reservoirs dries out.  Plants die.  Drought becomes a natural disaster.  Some droughts occur for a very long period of time, and cause great hardship to people, plants and animals.  Every year, droughts take place in many parts of the world, mostly in deserts.  People plan for drought be storing water in wells, water tanks, etc. and by growing crops that can stay alive in hot and dry weather.

How does drought effect the people?

When drought occurs, lakes, rivers, and wells dry up.  In the hot and dry surrounding plants die, and some may even catch fire.  Animals have to wander around to find food to eat and water to drink, and they eventually die if drought lasts for a long period.  The strong wind blows the topsoil that is very fertile away and this makes it harder to grow crops in the future.  With no crops for food, people have to go get food from somewhere else, otherwise they would starve and die.  Moreover, in poorer countries like Africa, drought brings disease, famine, and deaths.  Famine often comes about when there is a long period of drought.  It happens when a large number of people do not have enough to eat, since the hot sun kills the crops and dries up the water supplies.  Animals that are kept for meat and milk die from starvation.  The little amount of water that is available is usually very full of germs, and dirty.  Moreover, when people are poor, they fight each other or attack the government.  This often results in political instability or even war.

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Types of drought

  There are many types of drought.

  • Permanent drought occurs in dry desert regions.  There is hardly any rainfall, therefore deserts have drought all the time.  However, desert people are good are surviving in these areas because they are used to the dry conditions and harsh environment.
  • Seasonal drought is a feature of places which are very dry for most of the year, with a short rainy season.  Droughts here are predictable. For example, the countries around the Mediterranean Sea have rains in winter and drought in summer.
  • Contingent drought occurs when ...

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