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In mid-February, the central regions of Portugal are facing a historic drought, which has brought to light even the ruins of a village that was completely submerged when a large reservoir was created almost 70 years ago.
“I had never seen anything like it,” said Carlos Perdigao, 76, as he glanced at the dilapidated Vilari stone houses swallowed by the Zezere River when the dam was built in 1954.
Carlos Pedigao, resident of the area: For 30 years I have been fishing in this area, what we see now has never happened. It is very disturbing to us, extremely disturbing.
The dry and cracked soil is the strongest evidence of the long drought that has plagued the area, which has also hit neighboring Spain. Local meteorologists say this was the second driest January ever recorded since 2000.
This type of drought is unusual precisely because of its “intensity, magnitude and duration,” says climate scientist Ricardo Deus of the Portuguese meteorological agency IPMA.
Of Portugal’s 55 dams, 24 hold only half of their water capacity and five are below 20 per cent of capacity, according to the European Union’s ground observation service, Copernicus.
Spain has also suffered from the lack of rainfall in the last four months, and this situation is especially suffering from the water reservoirs in Andalusia and Catalonia.
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