What If It Rained All The Time, Nonstop?

how would you like to live in a city where it rains 247 days in a row yes that's over eight months it was on one of the Hawaiian Islands that such a weather record was set but not only can rainy weather ruin people's mood and plans but in the literal sense it washes the ground from under our feet it kills the immune system and destroys the economy what would happen to our planet if it would rain continuously and what terrible consequences might this have on the human body the Hawaiian Islands is not only a popular tropical resort but it's also one of the rainiest places on earth for this reason this region is called the rainbow state after tropical showers you can often observe this picturesque natural phenomenon it was on the Hawaiian island of Oahu between 1993 and 1994 that it rained for 247 days in a row but rainfall doesn't just bring freshness and the opportunity to admire rainbows to the residents of the Hawaiian Islands due to the weather destructive floods often occur there for example in April of 2018 more than one thousand three hundred and eighty millimeters or 54 inches of rain fell as a result of powerful thunderstorms on one of the islands many fields roads and even houses were underwater mud flows demolished buildings uprooted trees and overturned cars the main force of the tropical cyclone lasted only a few hours but for this time local residents suffered much damage estimated at 125 million u.s. dollars the worst of all is the suffering from flooding after heavy rainfall areas around the world which are in lowland areas or in the valleys of mountains for example up a quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level to protect against the rising level of the ocean they constructed a whole network of canals embankments and water control dams but if it were to rain non-stop in Holland water falling from the sky would very quickly flood the entire region a similar situation has already happened in Europe in 2002 when dozens of cities were impacted by heavy rain then within a few weeks in the territory of Russia Czechia Austria Slovakia and many other European countries a record amount of precipitation fowl it was the worst flooding caused by rain for the last 100 years in Europe rivers overflowed buildings and basements were flooded and even subway stations just one week of heavy rain caused fifteen billion u.s. dollars of damage to European countries continuous rain is even more dangerous for mountainous areas in the plains water levels usually rise relatively slowly but the streams flowing from the mountains like an avalanche literally demolish entire villages water rushing down the slopes takes with it a huge amount of dirt sand stone trees and other objects all this mass called mud flow can have a speed of up to 10 to 15 meters or 30 to 250 feet per second often people don't even have time to escape these dangerous places and get out of the path of nature for example in 2018 at least 13 people died as a result of large-scale landslides in the state of California in the u.s. the mud stream that arose during the shower caused such destruction that even the police and rescue services were horrified it was like the battlefield of World War 1 was how the local sheriff recounted the terrible scene but even if constant precipitation does not occur all over the planet but only in some regions growing food will be difficult waterlogged soil contains less oxygen during prolonged flooding the roots of plants suffer from a lack of oxygen or its complete absence first it causes a slowdown in growth and later the death of the plant according to the estimates of scientists 10% of agricultural land in the world is in a flood zone which can lead to huge crop losses it's estimated that one day of flooding in a wheat field reduces the yield by almost 2% if widespread rains cover our planet the threat of hunger will become one of the main problems of mankind finally continuous rainfall and dampness not only caused many people to feel sad and depressed an increase in humidity threatens serious health problems for example one of the most dangerous infectious diseases is malaria in 2018 228 million people were infected with the disease and as many as four hundred and five thousand died the causative agent of malaria enters the bloodstream of a person as a result of being bitten by a mosquito from the genus Anopheles these insects today inhabit almost all climatic zones with the exception of the sub Arctic Arctic zones and deserts for a long time scientists couldn't find an effective malaria vaccine as of 2019 the effectiveness of the existing vaccine was only between 31 and 56% only in 2020 massive clinical trials of a drug were planned which showed 100% effectiveness in small samples in 2019 the governments of Kenya Ghana and Malawi launched a pilot program for mass vaccination of the local population but the rest of the world the only way to prevent this dangerous disease is to kill mosquitoes their number is directly related to the amount of precipitation so a warm humid climate and the presence of swamps also increase the risk of an epidemic the same relationship has been established for another deadly disease dang fever the causative agents of this infection are also transmitted by mosquitoes living in a flooded city is even more detrimental to health and it's not just a risk of drowning in an icy stream heavy rainfall disrupts the water supply and sewage system contamination of drinking water can cause epidemics of serious diseases such as cholera the infection is caused by an anaerobic bacteria that live in many bodies of water residents of flood affected regions are often forced to drink water from rivers and streams thus massive outbreaks of Cholera can occur for example in April 2019 mahsun beak suffered from cyclone Kenneth the strongest tropical cyclone in the history of Africa during the storm itself hundreds of thousands of residents were left homeless without clean water and fresh food as a result more than 1,400 cases of cholera were recorded in only a few weeks the epidemic which began in Haiti in October 2010 became even more terrible according to a statement by the Haiti Ministry of Health On February 16 2011 the number of deaths from the epidemic was 4549 and 231 thousand seventy people were infected a joint study by American and Indian scientists showed that prolonged heavy rains significantly increased the incidence of diarrhea in children this problem is still typical for India and other territories with a monsoon tropical climate with this type of climate almost all precipitation falls in the summer researchers compared the incidence of children getting diarrhea with the amount of rainfall that fell the day before it turned out that children got sick one and a half times more often if three weeks before the illness there was at least one day with heavy rain if the rains began after a long dry period the incidents increased immediately by two point six times I don't even know if doctors can cope with so many diseases during a flood generally continuous rains would threaten mankind with disastrous consequences but can it happen that the whole earth is suddenly flooded scientists are sure that this will not happen according to their calculations the total atmospheric water content is about thirteen trillion cubic meters that's thirteen times ten to the twelfth power cubic meters that's 459 times 10 to the 12 power cubic feet moreover the surface area of our planet is 510 point zero seven two million square kilometers or almost 197 million square miles even if you imagine that all this moisture suddenly falls evenly on the surface of the earth its thickness will be about 25 point three millimeters or about one inch for example during heavy rain more than eight millimeters or 0.3 inches of moisture falls per hour so the global flood if it does occur will more likely resemble how it looks during moderate rain that has been going on for a little over three hours but on the other hand humanity must not lose vigilance as the average temperature on earth rises the amount of precipitation will increase for many reasons these climate changes can lead to serious disasters so if we don't want to see the day when rain continuously floods us from the sky it's better to take care of the environment before it's too late and what is the longest rain you personally observed write your answer in the comments and don't forget to give us a thumbs up on the video until next time [Music]

Channel: Ridddle

Views: 744,208

Keywords: Ridddle, riddle, what if, what, if, what would happened, What Happens If, sci, science, smart, experiment, rain, nonstop, rained

Id: pTW1WqTUXc0

Length: 11min 0sec (660 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 11 2020