These are some of the most famous — and most powerful — droughts in history. Each one taught people something new about how to stay safe!
🇺🇸 The Dust Bowl, USA (1930s)
The most famous drought in history! In the 1930s, years of drought hit the middle of the USA at the same time that poor farming had damaged the soil. The dry dirt simply blew away in enormous black dust storms called "black blizzards" that turned day into night. Millions of families packed up and moved west. The disaster taught farmers new ways to protect their soil.
🌍 The East African Droughts (2010–2011 and beyond)
In the Horn of Africa — countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya — the rains failed season after season, causing the region's worst drought in 60 years. Rivers dried up and livestock died. People around the world sent food and help, and scientists improved systems that predict droughts months ahead.
🇿🇦 Cape Town's "Day Zero", South Africa (2018)
The big city of Cape Town nearly became the first major city in the world to run completely out of water! After three years of drought, reservoirs dropped so low that the city announced a countdown to "Day Zero" — the day the taps would be turned off. Everyone pitched in, taking super-short showers and reusing water, and together they saved the city. Day Zero never came!
This should be a lake! During California's drought, lakes shrank and left behind dry, cracked lakebeds like this one, photographed in 2009. See source ↓
📚 Picture Sources
- Photo 1 — Dry lakebed during the California drought, 2009. From Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:California_Drought_Dry_Lakebed_2009.jpg
