20 Things That Would Happen if Humans Disappeared From Earth Overnight

Some cities will grow over

Just 25 years after man’s disappearance, urban landscapes will be overgrown by vegetation.

Without cars to drive on them, roads will be covered in moss and grasses. The forests and swamps that were previously paved over will have reclaimed their territory and places like Central Park will expand and take over the city. Within a few hundred years, urban areas and forests will be almost undiscernible from one another.

While others fill with sand

Desert cities will deteriorate more slowly than other locales due to the dry climate which inhibits rusting and the growth of decomposing organisms. Rather than being covered in vegetation, cities like Las Vegas and Dubai will instead be buried in sand and will be overtaken by lizards and vultures.

Animals will rule the world

Without humans around to stand in their way, surviving animals will invade suburban areas and make dens of our homes. Formerly endangered animals such as elephants will have bounced back within a century without the ivory trade, while escaped zoo animals that managed to escape disaster could possibly repopulate in foreign lands.

Dams and delta cities will eventually crumble

Two hundred years after humans leave earth, water pressure will break down manmade structures like the Hoover Dam, which will finally collapse, flooding the land and forever changing the landscape. The Colorado River will once again reach the Gulf of Mexico as it did centuries ago. Cities built on bodies of water will eventually be swept away into the ocean.

Metal buildings will corrode

Finally, after about three hundred years after a mass human exit, metal structures will begin to corrode. Skyscrapers, bridges and monuments like the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty will tumble to the ground, with their concrete foundations being the only remnants of their former glory.