Locals celebrate as dry river bed finally flows with water

The moment a dry river bed fills with water in a drought stricken district of India has been filmed by an ecstatic local.

Crowds of people scream with delight as water surges downstream in the video posted to Facebook on September 8 by Bmd Fayaz.

Dusty ground is quickly replaced by swirling pools of water, the first time the Kalavapalli River in Anantapur has been full in 20 years according to Mr Fayaz.

The district of Anantapur is regularly drought affected and records on average less than 34 rainy days a year according to the India Meteorological Department.

The dry conditions at Anantapur were so dire in August of this year that villagers had taken to placing traditional drought stones called karavu rallu in a bid to bring rain, the Deccan Chronicle reports.

Mr Range Gowda, an 85-year-old farmer, said the drought stones were moved in a bullock cart to the outskirts of a nearby village to encourage rain to the region.