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What is a 'flash flood'?
The story describes 'unexpected heavy downpour' causing the tunnels to collapse. This sounds like a localised flash flood, where intense rain over a short period overwhelms drainage systems and saturates soil. For burrowing animals like meerkats, such sudden deluges can be catastrophic, as their underground homes quickly fill with water or collapse due to the softened earth, as tragically happened here.
Stories that explain this
Entire family of meerkats except one survivor die after tunnels collapse in heavy rain in zoo Met Office issues thunderstorm warnings for UK parts with flash flood riskRelated explainers
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