It's hard to tell when a dry spell becomes a drought. Instead, drought is a slow-onset natural disaster, an insidious, creeping phenomenon, hard to recognize with certainty until streambeds are dry and crops have withered. Drought doesn't topple buildings and buckle highways, but it destroys crops, setting off an economic ripple effect and imperiling regional food supplies within some developing countries. Figuring out when a drought starts and stops requires careful monitoring of meteorological and hydrological variables such as precipitation and stream flow.
Effects are cumulative, growing in magnitude with each additional day of drought.
Impacts may linger for years after normal rainfall resumes. It Brings Out the Worst Unlike other natural disasters, drought tends to drive people apart rather than bring them together. Conflicts between people, communities and governments competing for water are typical of drought. The impacts of drought can also be extremely broad, both spatially and in the variety of economic sectors affected. It's Very Expensive Drought costs at least as much as faster-moving disasters.