The valley of the Torna creek and the low lying areas had been flooded by red mud slurry further to the red mud catasptrophe.
It is not only that these areas are red coloured but the fine grained, slippery and wet material has destroyed the crop and has fully sealed the soil surface, hindering aeration of the soil pores required by the soil living organisms. Once the red mud layer has dried wind erosion will create further problems. The red mud settled on the plant leaves and grass has already dried out and is being delivered by the wind to large distances. Both humans and animals may breath in the alkaline red mud particles together with the air causing irritation of the lungs or the particles my settle on the skin and may result eye and skin irritation and burns.