His analysis of rainfall patterns in the area suggests that rainfall in agriculture's upper-Mesopotamian heartland would, at this time, have fallen below the level needed to sustain farming reliably.
Almost 10, 000 properties were flooded in Hull and the surrounding area after heavy rainfall in June 2007.
It was intended to help protect the whole of the South Reading and Kingsley Close area during heavy rainfall.
And arid conditions, especially during the summer, leave the area without much rainfall to rinse the muck out of the air.
"This year, the amount of rainfall in the area diminished significantly, " said Javier Ramirez, head of the Cutzamala system.
Severe flooding has hit Devon and Cornwall as heavy rainfall sweeps across the area.
Giraffes, hippopotamuses, lions, elephants, zebra, gazelles, cattle and horses roamed across grasslands that may have received ten times more rainfall than the same area today.
Park guide Marthinus Sky explains that Tsitsikamma is a Khoe tribe word, which translates as 'many waters', and that the area gets over 1, 200mm of rainfall each year.
Residents and business owners in the area are now concerned further landslides may occur should the cliff be subjected to more heavy rainfall.
The spokesman added that a "close eye" would be kept on the situation, especially in the area downstream of Oxford, where the flood risk would be the greatest if there is heavy and persistent rainfall.
The catchment area is being increased by the creation of a pair of reservoirs, the first of which, due to be finished next year, will mean the rainfall-catchment acreage will extend to two-thirds of the island's total land area.
The worst of the rainfall is over, according to CNN's weather center, as cloudbursts are disappearing from the area's weather forecast.
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