Drought is unusual dryness of soil, resulting in crop failure and shortage of water for other uses, caused by significantly lower rainfall than average over a prolonged period. Hot dry winds,shortage of water high temperatures and consequent evaporation of moisture from the ground can contribute to conditions of drought.Well-known historical droughts include:
1900 India killing between 250,000 to 3.25 million.
1921–22 Soviet Union in which over 5 million perished from starvation due to drought[citation needed].
1928–30 Northwest China resulting in over 3 million deaths by famine[citation needed].1936 and 1941 Sichuan Province China resulting in 5 million and 2.5 million deaths respectively[citation needed].
The 1997–2009 Millenium Drought in Australian led to a water supply crisis across much of the country. As a result many desalination plants were built for the first time (see list).
In 2006, Sichuan Province China experienced its worst drought in modern times with nearly 8 million people and over 7 million cattle facing water shortages[citation needed].
12-year drought that was devastating southwest Western Australia, southeast South Australia, Victoria and northern Tasmania was "very severe and without historical precedent".In 2011, the State of Texas lived under a drought emergency declaration for the entire calendar year. The drought caused the Bastrop fires.