Drought hit Venezuela waits on rain,

[Scorpio]

Drought hit Venezuela waits on rain,

Guri, Venezuela

and Andrew Cawthorne

Drought has turned parts of the area behind Venezuela's Guri dam, one of the world's biggest, into a desert, but the government is optimistic of rain within weeks to drive the vast installation that provides the bulk of the OPEC nation's power.

On a tour of the hydroelectric complex on the Caroni river, Electricity Minister Luis Motta told Reuters that forecasts showed a 70 to 80 percent chance of rain toward the end of April or in May to stop the waters behind the dam falling to a critical depth of 240 meters.

more here:

https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/drought-hit-venezuela-waits-for-rain

 

[Professur]

Funny desert with all those trees sticking up outta the water. I didn't think trees grew underwater.

 

[dacrunch]

Funny desert with all those trees sticking up outta the water. I didn't think trees grew underwater.

ancient trees from before they built the dam... quite common...

... but what I noticed was the skid-mark left in the mud by a croc...

 

[Howdy]

You would think that a nation so rich in oil and gas reserves would not be dependent on hydroelectric power.

 

[Scorpio]

You know, it pretty much sucks,

Remember back when oil prices exploded here? Hugo from Vene actually shipped up heating oil to families here in the US of A, to help those that needed it. Sure it was a political ploy, but what the heck right?

And now, they continue to hammer Vene and Argentina incessantly, when quite the opposite could happen. Where if we pitched in and gave them a hand, maybe we could start the way to normalizing relationships, and maybe even create 1 friend in South America.

But alas, that goes contrary to the money boyz wanting to punish them severely, over and over again.

Much more fun to have oodles of enemies.

 

[Scorpio]

You would think that a nation so rich in oil and gas reserves would not be dependent on hydroelectric power.

problem with their oil is it is a bitch to refine from what I hear. That cost coupled with hydro being extremely efficient makes it common sense to use hydro. But that doesn't mean you cannot have a backup plan for the rare instances that this type of event can occur.

another question may be, will it be that rare into the future, or is the overall climate changing, is it going to be more commonplace in that region?

 

[Goldhedge]

Makes for really cool photographic moments....