Flooding, devastation,
and disease.
What could all these
awful things have in common?
Rain.
And lots of it.
We're not talking April showers here.
So, imagine a downpour lasting
not for a few hours or even days.
Instead, imagine 365 days of
nonstop rain.
This is What If,
Rain is vital for life on Earth.
The plants and animals need it.
We need it too, for drinking water and
to grow crops.
But too much of a good thing
can tip the balance.
And climate data shows that
the amount of torrential rain
is increasing.
A study from the University of Saskatchewan
found that
And in Europe and Asia,
extreme rains increased by 8.6%.
So, if it were to rain nonstop for a year,
it could have serious consequences
for everything on Earth.
But, what's causing this increase
in torrential rains?
Have you ever wondered how much water
is up in the sky?
Well, if all the water in the atmosphere
suddenly fell to Earth,
it would cover the entire surface,
and be 2.5 cm (1 in) deep.
Now, imagine that rain is constantly falling
in a never-ending downpour of
epic proportions.
well, we know it's going to flood,
but just how bad would it get?
Well, if you like going to the beach
or tropical islands,
the daily rains could ruin your holidays.
Islands would be affected first.
They'd be lost to the sea pretty quickly.
And places like the Netherlands, in Europe,
would face dire consequences
as the water level rises.
There's a good chance that
they would be completely underwater.
The usual protocol during a flood
is to go to higher ground.
It's safer than low-lying areas.
But there's a major issue
if you go higher up too.
Water avalanches.
All that rain could cause landslides,
mudslides, and waterfalls.
So, those areas would
not exactly be safe either.
The thing is, the initial flooding and
mountain perils would be just
the start of our problems.
Have you thought about how all that rain
might affect your health?
It might be easy to overlook your physical
and mental well-being
if never-ending rain is pouring down outside.
But healthwise,
it's a serious problem to deal with.
You might think that
there would be plenty of water to drink,
but we'd have to collect that water carefully.
It would be easy for our reservoirs
and water systems
to be flooded with pollutants from
waste and debris.
And that would cause disease to
spread rapidly.
And don't forget,
there ain't no sunshine when it rains hard.
We all need vitamin D,
and the easiest way to get it
is from sunlight.
But, if it rains all day, every day,
I guess we'll just need to buy vitamins instead.
And people could start suffering
from depression due to the lack of sunlight.
It's a real downer.
So there will be flooding, and disease.
But, I bet you didn't even think
what would happen to the air, did you?
Another consequence of the
persistent rain would be
a severe lack of oxygen for us to breathe.
Healthy soil contains oxygen.
But with so much water in it,
there would be much less room
for oxygen.
Water erosion would expose roots,
and make trees and plants unstable.
And to top it all off,
our crops would be wiped out.
They'd drown.
And that could be the nail in the coffin
for humanity.
So, if starvation doesn't get you,
the low oxygen levels probably will.
Yeah, it's not a great forecast
if it rains every day for a year.
But, if it happens,
is there anything we could do?
Well, there are places on Earth
that get a huge amount of rain.
Let's take a look at the wettest
place on Earth.
It's a state in India called Meghalaya,
especially the town of Mawsynram.
Its lush, green rain forests
help convert carbon dioxide
back into breathable oxygen.
And people have managed to thrive there
for hundreds of years.
One of their most ingenious solutions is
building living bridges.
They're made from the rubber trees
in the rain forest.
Once constructed,
they can live for 500 years, or longer.
So, there is hope for us in
such a sodden scenario.
But interestingly, and maybe sadly,
Meghalaya and other super wet areas
are drying out.
And it looks like
it's being caused by global warming.
But, hold on. Global warming
is supposed to be causing more rain, right?
Unfortunately,
climate change is a complex issue.
It's a vicious cycle
of mistreating our planet
and environmental issues
we don't fully understand.
But we do know that global warming
is affecting our world in various ways.
In the case of Meghalaya,
and many other places around the world,
we know that climate change
is causing droughts.
Monsoons are still happening,
but with less rainfall.
And there's deforestation.
We now know that
it can affect weather patterns locally
and globally.
So, if it rained every day for a year,
even though it's improbable,
there's something we can learn from all this.
We live in a beautiful world,
with all its animals and plants.
But, we could be changing our world
in ways that could spiral out of our control.
And hey, I wouldn't want that.
How about you?
So, it gets me thinking.
If we got all that rain,
what would happen to our power systems?
What if Earth lost power
for seven days?
Well, that's a story for another What If.