Venezuela

Although, Venezuela is known for having extreme rain in the country especially during October and November it was rare for droughts to occur. However in 2016, Venezuela suffered from a severe drought that greatly affected the country when it came to water, food and even electricity. The drought conditions forced down the water level at the Guri dam (depicted above). The Guri dam is a hydroelectrical station that provides 75% of the power for the capital of Venezuela. During the drought the water conditions in the Guri dam were lower than 245 meters which is lower than the minimum to operate 8 turbines. Recently during spring of this year, there were drought concerns again in Venezuela but it did not happen An interesting atmospheric phenomenon that occurs in Venezuela are Catatumbo lighting. It occurs at the mouth of the Catatumbo river and it empties out into Lake Maracaibo. For about 200 to 300 days a year, the lightning almost never stops and produces an average of 28 stri...

The country of Venezuela has experienced mudslides and landslides, as shown in the picture on the right.They are most known for the disaster of the Vargas tragedy, in which constant rain, debris-flow, and flooding hazards caused the mud and landslide.  The tragedy was destructive and claimed the lives of about 30,000 and many others to be displaced. Many homes and buildings were destroyed by massive boulders that were brought down by the landslides. Even more damage was added to the city due to flooding that followed the disaster. Following the tragedy, barriers were built to prevent landslides from entering cities. They have also become aware and take precautions when there are signs of floods or landslides. They also created basins downstream in waterways that were contaminated with debris from the tragedy. In the case of building homes on unstable slopes, they must build it with lightweight materials, channeling the waters and avoiding dumps to not erode the earth. They ...