Drought in China brings out an island with three ancient Buddhist statues 6 centuries old

The drop in the water level of the yangtze river has revealed a submerged island in the city of Chongqing, in southwestern China, and a trio of buddhist statues believed to be 600 years old, according to reports from the government news agency Xinhua.

The three statues have been found in the highest part of the reef of the island called Foyeliangdating as built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. One of the statues depicts a monk seated on a lotus pedestal.

The water levels of the Yangtze have been falling drastically due to a drought and a heat wave in southwestern China.

Rainfall in the Yangtze Basin has been about 45% lower than normal since July, and high temperatures are likely to persist for at least another week, according to official forecasts.

Until 66 rivers in 34 counties of Chongqing have dried upaccording to the state broadcaster CCTV on Friday.

In the same way, the high temperatures and the lack of rain have seriously affected the flow of European rivers and the reservoirs in the south of the continent reflect the scarcity of water and are at increasingly low levels.

The ‘Spanish Stonehenge’

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As a consequence, in a swamp in the province of Cáceres, what is known as the ‘Spanish Stonehenge’a circle of dozens of megalithic stones that were usually submerged in the Valdecañas reservoir in Extremadura.

Another of Europe’s mighty rivers, the Danube, has fallen to one of its lowest levels in nearly a century, exposing hulls of more than 20 ships German warships sunk during World War II near the Serbian port city of Prahovo.

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