As a result of the extreme heat in the Philippines, a large dam partly dried out, revealing the resurfaced remnants of a town that is almost 300 years old.
A reservoir was constructed in the 1970s by submerging the town of Pantabangan.
The Pantabangan Dam and its accompanying buildings were authorized to be built in May 1966 by the Old Philippine Congress under the Upper Pampanga River Project Act (5499). In 1971, the groundbreaking ceremony was presided over by President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
On rare occasions, When the weather is hot and dry, the town reemerges from the reservoir.
The reveal is happening at a time when temperatures are hitting record highs throughout parts of the nation, and over half of the country is under drought conditions.
An engineer with the organization that oversees the country’s dams, Marlon Paladin, told a news organization that it’s the longest the village has ever stayed above water after the dam was completed.
Schools have been closed for days due to the excessive heat, and office workers have been urged to keep working from home, which has disturbed the normal lives of millions of people.
A meteorologist from the state-run meteorological agency Pagasa, Benison Estareja claimed that temperatures might rise slightly in the days ahead.
El Nino, the cyclical natural phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean’s surface waters, is worsening the already hot and dry season in the Philippines. The whole eastern coast of the archipelago country is facing the Pacific.
The water surface in the eastern Pacific Ocean experiences a warming phenomenon known as El Niño, a climatic trend. This is the warmer part of the larger El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
It lasts anywhere from nine months to two years and happens usually every two to seven years.
In March, the ruins started to appear again, with very little rain in the region. The village, located around 125 miles north of Manila, has been a popular tourist destination since the ruins reappeared.
Class suspensions have impacted 33 million pupils in Bangladesh, similar to the number in the Philippines. According to the country’s health ministry, heatstroke has killed 30 Thais this year so far, down from 37 compared to last year. Myanmar, on the other hand, has seen temperatures over 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
