Update May 4, 2024 at 11:00 p.m.
The ancient city of Pantabangan, Philippines has resurfaced due to the lack of rain and drought plaguing the region. Details.
Ghost town
The Philippines is suffering the wrath of an exceptional heat wave: temperatures have reached 45°C at times. This heat, combined with a terrible drought, caused the water level of a dam to drop so low that the ruins of a city dating from several centuries ago resurfaced. The ancient town of Pantabangan had to be relocated in the 1970s to allow for the construction of the dam.
A drought in Quebec?
Normally, Montreal receives an average of 84 mm of rain during the month of May. However, this is not always the case. In 1982, the metropolis received only 15.2 mm for the entire month. More recently, only 11.6 mm of rain fell on Montreal in May 2021. It is also the driest month of May in history for the city.
That same year, the Quebec spring was marked by an alarming drought, mainly in the south and west of the province: temperatures were well above seasonal norms and four heat waves occurred. The season even ranked among the five warmest springs in the metropolis.
Too often, drought rhymes with forest fires. Quebec is not ready to forget the year 2023: according to SOPFEU, more than a million hectares were burned by 566 fires in intensive protection zones. In the northern zone, 147 fires decimated more than 3.2 million hectares, for a total of more than 4.3 million hectares.
