Atacama 'Tsunami': Freak rainfall floods devastate driest desert

[jakeXT]

The authorities evacuated thousands from their homes in what was described as “the worst rain disaster to fall on the north [of Chile] in 80 years.”

http://rt.com/news/247205-atacama-desert-flood-chile/


Atacama Desert - World's Driest - Gets 14 Years' Worth Of Rain In One Day - Wunderground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112783101

Seven years of rain fell in just 12 hours

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112783339

[yuiyoshida]

1. While filming it seemed necessary you

could tell the water was rising. They should have sought higher ground immediately, even if it meant climbing to the roof top. That is a bad situation to be in, Just ask the people of Northern Japan!

[Warpy]

2. That's part of the problem with amateurs recording things

They don't seem as real or as dangerous when they're on the other side of a camera lens.

It's why I don't pack a camera when I visit a place for the first time. I want to experience it and remember it instead of remembering aiming a camera at it. Postcards are the best way to get tourist photos, anyway.

I'm not exempt from endangering myself. One money shot I got was hanging off a pier and barely surviving the experience. It was a great photo, though.

[panfluteman]

3. Where the HECK is Atacama???

You give no geographical explanation in this posting. The only clue that I have is that it is in a Spanish speaking country, because the filmers of this video are speaking in Spanish. It could be somewhere in Latin America, in all probability - probably on the Pacific coastal plain of Peru, which is one of the driest parts of the world. Am I correct? I will proceed to do a google search and get back to you with my findings...

[panfluteman]

4. Looks Like I Was Pretty Close...

The northern end of the Atacama desert is on the south Pacific coast of Peru. But the other clue that you do provide: "the worst disaster to fall on the north in 80 years" does help me zero in on the location: Most of the Atacama desert is in the northern end of Chile.