audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Where, Exactly, is the Wettest Place on Earth? High on a ridge in the Khasi Hills of India's north-east state of Meghalaya, near the border with Bangladesh, Mawsynram has the worlds highest average rainfall - 467in (11.86 metres) of rain per year Ð due to summer air currents gathering moisture over the floodplains of Bangladesh. When the clouds hit the hills of Meghalaya they are compressed to the point where they can no longer hold their moisture. The end result is near constant year round rainfall. The women make rain covers known as ''knups,'' using bamboo slivers, plastic sheets and broom grass to create a rain shield that resembles a turtle shell. The states name means ''the abode of the clouds'' in the Indian language of Sanskrit, it is not unusual for clouds to pass through residents's homes in Mawsynram, leaving furniture damp with moisture. Meteorologists say Mawsynram's location, close to Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal is the reason the tiny cluster receives so much rain.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 2, 2013 - Meghalaya, India - The village of Mawsynram is subject to the highest average rainfall on earth. Perched atop a ridge in the Khasi Hills of India's north east, the village receives 467 inches of rain per year, thirteen times that of Seattle. The heavy rainfall is due to summer air currents sweeping over the steaming floodplains of Bangladesh, gathering moisture as they move north. When the resulting clouds hit the steep hills of Meghalaya they are 'squeezed' through the narrowed gap in the atmosphere and compressed to the stage they can no longer hold their moisture, causing the near constant rain.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
June 29, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - An elderly Khasi woman is the first arrival to Sunday mass in Mawsynram's Catholic church. Around 70 percent of Khasi are Christian, largely due to the Reverend Thomas Jones who, in 1841 clambered up into the hills from the plains of Bangladesh and established the region's first church in the neighboring town of Cherrapunji.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 6, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Rainwater surges through Mawsynram Village during a heavy downpour.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
June 28, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - WINCHESTER LYNGKHOI carries fresh meat up to his butcher's stall on market day. .When asked if it was hard to live with so much rain, the 26 year old replied,.'we can't think about that. Here there's always rain but we have to work, so it's no good wondering about it.'
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 3, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Three laborers walking into Mawsynram under the traditional Khasi umbrellas known as knups. Made from bamboo and banana leaf, the knups are favored for allowing two handed work, and for being able to stand up to the high winds which lash the region during heavy rainstorms.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 9, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - A small fisherman walks under the ancient tree root bridge at Mawlynnong village.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
June 26, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Goats shelter in a bus stop during a drizzly afternoon. While it doesn't rain all day during the monsoons, it does rain every day, with the heaviest rainfall coming mostly during the night.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
June 26, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Clouds curl over the eastern edge of the village where cliffs drop almost vertically to the floodplains below.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
June 28, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Locals walk through the crush of umbrellas on market day, held twice weekly in Mawsynram regardless of the weather.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
To earn righteousness, to know man and God, and to know your maternal and paternal ancestors.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
30 am, students of the RCLP School in Nongsohphan Village cross a bridge grown from the roots of a rubber tree. In the relentless damp of Meghalaya's jungles, wooden structures rot away too quickly to be practical. For centuries, the Khasi people have instead used the trainable roots of rubber trees to 'grow' bridges over the region's rivers.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
April 13, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - A Khasi boy has his turban tightly twisted into place by his grandfather. The Khasi faith has been enjoying a renaissance over the past decade with some Niam Khasi followers see the arrival of christian missionaries as an 'invasion.'
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 6, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Rain hammers down on a roof in the village. In the two peak monsoon months of June and July, Mawsynram is hit with an average 275 Inches of rain. New York receives 60 inches in a year.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 3, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - Laborers clear rockfall after a night of heavy rain. Major repair works are impossible through the monsoon rains but these men are tasked with keeping the roads passable until October when the rainy season ends and the contractors' heavy machinery can be brought in. They earn 60 cents per day.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
July 2, 2014 - Meghalaya, India - The weather station on the outskirts of Mawsynram. Measurements from the station are taken monthly, but by the end of 2014 an automated digital measurement system will replace this station.
© Amos Chapple/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
