Try this one...
This Earth's geography is different from most parallels in that the
Qattara Depression is simply the far northeastern end of a vast depression covering two-thirds of the
Sahara. When a determined Victorian engineer builds a canal to flood the Qattara he instead floods the Sahara.
Now, this Saharan basin isn't as deep as the Mediterranian Sea, but it covers more area, so the volume is the same. What started as a small canal quickly erodes into a vast canyon filled with roaring waters.
Now the
Zanclean Flood lowered world sea levels by forty feet or so. This means that flooding this world's Saharan Basin would drop sea level by a similar amount.
As the canal was opened in 1890 and the basin was filled in 1905, with most of the draining coming in the last three years, that means that this Q5 parallel is in crisis in 1906. The world's harbors and docks are in chaos, shipping lanes face new threats as previously sunken rocks come near the surface. New lands extend above the seas.
Basically 19th-century imperialism with a new map. Remember the New Saharan Sea is going to massively change the climate of Africa creating vast rich lands to grab. (And from my limited knowledge of meteorology, should generate plenty of extra hurricanes).