'Ghost' Village Resurfaces Amid Drought in Spain

A drought in Spain has created an inadvertent tourist attraction. People are visiting the site of a former village—Aceredo—that was deliberately flooded 30 years ago to create a reservoir, reports the AP. However, that reservoir is now extremely low, allowing people to walk among formerly submerged houses in the old village in northwestern Spain, on the Portuguese border. "It's as if I'm watching a movie. I have a feeling of sadness," a 65-year-old visitor tells Reuters. "My feeling is that this is what will happen over the years due to drought and all that, with climate change."

It hasn't been uncommon in recent summers to see the occasional roof of a home emerge in the water, but this year is on a whole different scale because the Alto Lindoso reservoir is operating at only 15% capacity. While the emergence of the "ghost village" is blamed mostly on a severe drought, the Reuters story notes that some also are faulting inept reservoir management by power utility EDP. Whatever the reason, the sight is providing memories of what life was like back in 1992, when the village went under. “The whole place used to be all vineyards, orange trees. It was all green. It was beautiful," a 72-year-old visitor tells the AP. “Look at it now. It's so sad." (More Spain stories.)